Why do the long haul down to Pompeii and Herculaneum when you have this wonderful alternative just outside the city? A half-hour hop on the commuter train to Ostia brings you to Ostia Antica, the impressively preserved port of the ancient city.

The Med is now two miles away but for well over 600 years, until its decline in the fourth century AD, Ostia buzzed with maritime trade from the whole immense Empire.