Ostia Antica presents a clickable plan of Trajan's harbour in Portus
… accompanied by a text-menu (main entry: Portus). The plan that we chose was made by Italo Gismondi and published by Lugli in 1935. We added short descriptions of many buildings and improved the descriptions of buildings that were already online. The ruins of Portus are mostly covered by earth today, after centuries of what we would call today plundering. It is extremely difficult to understand the site, and we hope that the clickable plan will make it a bit easier for you. Clickable plans will be added in the near future for the basin of Claudius and the north part of the Isola Sacra. We will keep consulting the recent publications by the Soprintendenza and the Portus Project, and summarize the results for you. Use Google Earth to get an idea of the tremendous challenge that the Soprintendenza is facing. Portus is "in the shade" of Leonardo da Vinci airport and "strangled" by roads, highways and railways. It is virtually impossible to visit the site on foot. There have been successful protection orders by the Italian State, but part of the site is still private property of the Torlonia family, part of it is rather unprotected. For an analysis of the current situation see especially Lidia Paroli writing in Keay 2005, p. 56.
(from Yahoo Group Ostia-L)
