How to make Amatriciana Pasta

Rome, Italy may be called the “Eternal City” but Rome actually

started several miles southwest of present-day Rome in a place

called Ostia.  Today Ostia Antica is an archeological site near the modern resort town of Ostia. Two thousand years ago Ostia Antica was located at the mouth of the Tiber River making it an important commercial city with a population of around 60,000. It declined as the harbor silted up eliminating its place in the trading market and making way for the growth of what is Rome today. Ostia, today, is a beach resort. 

I think, we Americans, think that we have the most advanced culture that ever existed and in many ways that’s true but often we don’t appreciate the high level of culture and lifestyle a thousand or more years ago. There are frescos that have survived in homes. The frescos served the same function as wallpaper does today.  In the early 1800s itinerant painters would travel around the United States and stencil designs on the walls of people’s homes in exchange for room and board and/or a pittance in pay. 

In the Ostia Antica Museum there are statuaries representing

religions of foreign land.  Being a port town, Ostia welcomed people from all over the world and tried to meet their religious needs.  The theater is one of the oldest brick theaters anywhere and concerts are still held there today. The three rows of marble steps near the orchestra was for the rich. Today orchestra seats are still the most expensive.

It was fun walking down the main thoroughfare past the stores. Mosaics advertised their wares. The hub of life centered around the government-subsidized, easy affordable baths. There were marble steps for lounging and doing business. They led to the pools. Olive oil was used instead of soap so the water was skimmed periodically by servants.  

It was the end of the beach season in Ostia so many restaurants

were closed but we found a small, family-owned restaurant near our hotel called, Officina Cusinia. I am often puzzled how people identify us as Americans even before we speak. While we were eating, the owner, Giovannit Ciaravola said he knew we were

Americans because we twirled our spaghetti on our spoon.  The correct way, he said was to just twirl the fork or put the tines on the plate and twirl it.  I said we probably don’t make the sauce the Italian way.  He agreed and said he would be making sauce the next day about noon and if we wanted we could return and learn the way to make traditional Amatriciana Italian sauce – the “right way” to make it.  We did.  

Amatriciana Pasta

3 to 5 quarter-inch slices of guanciale (salt-cured pork jowl); or uncooked fatty bacon 
1 can of plum tomatoes in sauce
Salt pinch
Pepper pinch 
Olive oil couple of drops
one-half box of  spaghetti pasta
2 ounces pecorino cheese

Cook pork jowl over medium heat so the fat cooks out and the pork jowl is slightly crispy. Add tomatoes, cover (it will lose some red and become more orangey), stir occasionally until it thickens – about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Mix. Add a couple drops of oil to make it look shiny. Mix, Boil water then add pasta cook; until el dente. If the sauce is too thick add some pasta water. Drain pasta. Add to the cooking pan. Toss. Sprinkle cheese on top. Ready to enjoy. 

Ostia Antiqua

There are two very different Ostias. One is referred to as Ostia Antica, an archeological site. It is in the suburb of the city of Ostia which is on a beach and where the people from Rome go to escape the heat. What a perfect blend – history and

beach just 30 minutes from Rome’s international airport.  John and I stayed at Hotel Sirenetta on the lido where the prices were reasonable enough so we could reserve a room with a balcony facing the Tyrrhenian Sea. The balcony was actually a huge L-shaped area and the hotel was unique – very artsy with a lovely garden area and close to the beach. 

I was most interested in visiting Ostia Antica. The train station was

a 10-minute walk from the hotel.  We got off at the second stop called Ostia Antica, and then it was another 10-minute walk to the ticket booth.  There was a long, slow line. I think the best time to go would be before 10 a.m. or after 1 p.m. to avoid the tour buses.  Once inside I wondered where

everyone went. The tree-covered grounds were not crowded. I find it amazing that 2000 thousand years ago the people of Ostia lived better than the people in colonial America 300 years ago. History is not a steady line of progress. At one time Ostia was an important Roman port with a population of 70,000.  Due to overextension of the empire and being unable to defend their borders plus inept leadership along with the mouth of the Tiber River silting up causing the river to change course; Ostia went into decline. Now the mouth of the Tiber is nearly two miles away.

John and I liked walking along the same road that the people of

Ostia did over 2000 years ago. They said “all roads lead to Rome.”  The famous Appian Way was 350 miles long and covered with huge stones – the very ones we walked on. There are many places where the old Apian is still used by vehicular traffic.  It is bumpy. I wonder what other roads have lasted 2000 years. I tried to imagine what the busy city was like. There

must have been many days when they could hear the rumble of chariots carrying Julius Caesar and other notables race by. The city must have been amazing.  They had a huge theater that held over 4000 people.  It is one of the oldest theaters in the world. Today they sometimes have concerts there.  The area in front of the theater was called the Square of Guilds. Nearby were the shops of the workers. Some of the buildings had mosaics showing what they made or what they were used for such as the mosaic of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, by the baths.

There were many baths in the city. Bathers would have an oil

massage. Olive oil was used instead of soap. The oil scum would build up on top of the water so servants would skim the oil off the bath water. There were cold and warm water baths. The baths were a place to discuss business of Ostia. The

same was true of the public toilets which had many “holes” so several people could be using them at the same time. Even today people occasionally euphemistically refer to the toilets as a place to “do their business.”