You drive north along the Roman coast to the sleepy medieval town of Cerveteri where your Lecture-Guide shows ruins and shares stories of Rome’s founders, the Etruscans. Cemeteries, tombs, frescoes and a local museum gives you a glimpse into the lives of these fascinating people who thrived in this region almost 3,000 years ago.

Next, you travel south along the Mediterranean to Ostia Antica. Here you see the Port of the Empire. This marvelously preserved site presents Roman life at the time of the Caesars. From bars and bathrooms to boarding houses and brothels, Ostia illustrates how the noble and the normal citizens lived, functioned and interacted in this Roman port city.