Publisher's Synopsis
Seventy years ago this volume opened the long-running series "Scavi di Ostia", now in its seventeenth title. The publication was conceived by Guido Calza, Director of the excavations in Ostia for more than two decades, in order to illustrate the history, the urban planning and the archaeological discovery of the first Roman colony, a picture that in those years started to be more precise due to the great excavations for the 1942 Universal Exposition in the western area of the ancient city. Calza was unable to finish the text due to his early death in 1946; the editing of the volume was completed by his closest collaborators, architect Italo Gismondi and archaeologist Giovanni Becatti, who enriched the text with a topographical description accompanied by phase plans and a general plan which is still used today as a topographical reference. The volume came out in 1953 and became the model for subsequent publications on Ostia: out of print for years in bookstore catalogs, the Parco archeologico di Ostia antica promoted this reprint featuring the digital acquisition of the original text and images, published in a slightly reduced format to make the tome more handy. An introduction by Alessandro D'Alessio, Director of the Parco archeologico di Ostia antica, a brief introduction by Dario Daffara and a concise bibliographical update note complete the text.
