Ancient Ostia goes to town: three Rome hotels welcome three ancient works out of storage and restored

Three works, three hotels, one project: ancient Ostia goes to the city. An initiative designed to make accessible to the general public precious artifacts that have remained hidden for decades in museum deposits and never exhibited.

The project is part of Art outside the Museum, promoted by Federalberghi Lazio in collaboration with the nonprofit LoveItaly ETS, the Ministry of Culture’s General Directorate for Museums and the Fondazione Roma. In this context,Hotel Diana presents Ostia antica va in città (Ancient Ostia goes to the city): a display showing three works from the imperial period from the deposits of the Archaeological Park of Ancient Ostia, restored and exhibited at the hotel itself and in the lobbies of Hotel Universo andHotel Scalinata di Spagna.

The initiative aims to bring the beauty of antiquity out of institutional places, bringing it into direct contact with visitors in the heart of Rome, even in non-traditional settings. Inside the display cases of the three facilities (all part of Federalberghi’s Historic Hotels of Rome Committee) are two marble heads depicting matrons and a fresco with a deity, works dating back to the second century AD. At the Hotel Diana is the head of Faustina Maggiore, wife of Emperor Antoninus Pius, a symbolic figure of imperial female power and later deified. Hotel Universo, on the other hand, houses Domizia Lucilla, a member of the senatorial aristocracy and mother of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Finally, at the Hotel Scalinata di Spagna is Lachesi, one of the three Fates, depicted in a fresco and associated with the task of measuring the thread of life.

The display of these works, along with other exhibits distributed in five other historic Roman hotels, is part of the Art Outside the Museum project, which was born in October 2024 thanks to an agreement between the General Directorate of Museums, LoveItaly and Federalberghi Lazio. Under the project, each participating hotel, together with LoveItaly, selects a museum and a work of art preserved in storage, then commits to finance its restoration, cover its insurance and host it in their spaces for about 18 months. The initiative is also supported by the Fondazione Roma, which contributes financially to the implementation of the interventions, as well as by other partners such as the MAG Group, an insurance broker, and Montenovi, a company specializing in transporting and setting up works of art.

Hotels in this case become active protagonists in the recovery of works never seen before.

“We welcomed this initiative from the very beginning with great enthusiasm,” said Carlo De Angelis, managing director of Hotel Diana and former president of the Historic Hotels of Rome Committee. “Our goal has always been to offer an experience that goes beyond a simple stay: therefore, thanks to the presence of these works we ensure that our guests not only visit Rome, but breathe its history from the moment they arrive at the hotel. In a renewed dialogue between the excellence of Roman hospitality and the millennial history of the territory.”

“The signing of the memorandum of understanding for the exhibition of museum works in the hotels in Rome and the region that are members of our association was a source of satisfaction and pride for Federalberghi Lazio,” said Federalberghi Lazio President Walter Pecoraro. “It had long been our desire to establish a partnership that could enhance tourism through the combination of art and culture. Art outside the Museum, in addition to promoting hotel hospitality in Rome and Lazio, brings to light a hidden heritage that tourists will be able to enjoy as the very element of our welcome.”

“As in the majority of Italian museums and places of culture, about 70 percent of the works owned are kept in storage and only 1/5 of the Ostia heritage, due to lack of space, is on display,” explained Alessandro D’Alessio, Director of the Archaeological Park of Ancient Ostia. “Identifying new ways to make Italian heritage known was therefore an operation strongly desired by Massimo Osanna, Director General Museums of the Ministry of Culture. Many works are on display at ministries and institutions, but they are places that cannot always be visited. That is why hotels, transit hubs for thousands of people each year, are the ideal place for exhibitions, contributing to the image of the country. We are very much counting on the positive result of the operation to trigger a virtuous circle and encourage new loans at new facilities. But I also hope that tourists on their third or fourth trip to the capital, intrigued by the works on display, will come to visit the Archaeological Park of Ancient Ostia.”

“This wonderful collaboration returns extraordinary treasures to the city today and gives visitors from all over the world the opportunity to be fascinated by little-known Italian works of art,” remarked Richard Hodges, president of LoveItaly. “Now, thanks to the partnership with LoveItaly, a nonprofit association dedicated to enhancing Italian cultural heritage, these treasures will win over a new generation of admirers.”

Ancient Ostia goes to town: three Rome hotels welcome three ancient works out of storage and restored

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