Ostia was the port city of ancient Rome; it had a strategic function for trade, especially for the supply of grain, and as the main base of the Roman navy.

It had a fundamental function during the Punic Wars, and after the final destruction of Carthage, and the end of Macedon's independence; by the latter half of the 2nd century BC, Roman control over all of what was later to be dubbed Mare Nostrum ("our sea") had been established.

The current placename is a reference to the original settlement in the eighth century BC at the mouth of the river Tiber and precisely called Ostia Tiberina.

[3] The settlement of Ostia, according to tradition, was built under the reign of the fourth king of Rome Ancus Marcius,[4] around 630 BC, as the first official Roman colonia on the then coastline of the Tyrrhenian Sea and near the mouth of the Tiber river.

[7] An important stand in Italian nationalism of the 19th century was a veneration for the glories of the Roman past, manifested in a wish to revive or recreate various places and institutions connected with Ancient Rome.

Due to the opening of the urban Roma–Ostia railway in 1924, the new village soon became the favourite sea resort of the Romans, while many Art Nouveau houses were built on the waterfront.

During the Fascist period, the government massively expanded the neighbourhood, which got its ultimate architectural character due to many new buildings in Stile Littorio.

The Ostia quarter is an active seaside resort, equipped with beaches, dedicated facilities, restaurants, hotels and points of interest.

[9] The main (and often crowded) free beaches of Ostia extend in the southern area, protected with dunes and rich in Mediterranean flora.

Cotral buses provide a rapid connection service from the Lido di Ostia Centro station of the Metromare to Fiumicino airport.