Photo: Dtom (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A self-guided audio tour of Portus, Rome's sea harbour, in three places a short drive apart, each walked on foot: the archaeological area of the Imperial Harbours of Claudius and Trajan, the Museo delle Navi by the airport and the necropolis on Isola Sacra. It begins at the late-antique walls, which amphora fragments in their core date no earlier than the end of the fourth century, then passes the unfinished travertine columns of the Portico di Claudio, the Darsena, the Magazzini di Traiano, whose blocked cells became part of the wall, the Terme della Lanterna and the transverse canal. Past the Magazzini Severiani, dated by brick stamps to the Antonine period, it reaches Trajan's hexagonal basin of about AD 100–112, the Palazzo Imperiale, the Basilica Portuense and the traces of the early medieval settlement. At the Museo delle Navi Romane, when open, are five Roman vessels found between 1958 and 1965 while the airport was built; the north quay of Claudius's harbour lies beside it. On Isola Sacra the tour visits the Basilica of Sant'Ippolito and ends in the necropolis along the Via Flavia, with the mill relief of Tomb 78, the midwife and surgeon of Tomb 100 and the lighthouse mosaic of Tomb 43.
18 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 29 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 6 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Late Antique Walls of Portus, Portico di Claudio, The Darsena, Magazzini di Traiano, Terme della Lanterna, Transverse Canal and Inner Moles.
Magazzini Severiani, Trajan's Hexagonal Basin, Palazzo Imperiale, Basilica Portuense, Early Medieval Settlement of Porto, Museo delle Navi Romane, North Quay of Claudius's Harbour, Basilica of Sant'Ippolito.
Necropolis of Portus, Tomb 78, the Mill Relief, Tomb 100, the Midwife and the Surgeon, Tomb 43, the Lighthouse Mosaic.
The monumental western face of Claudius's port, whose travertine columns were deliberately left unfinished, especially along the Colonnacce.
The warehouse complex beside the entrance channel to Trajan's basin, whose blocked-up cells along the north front turned a warehouse into a wall.
The six-sided inland basin of about AD 100–112, with travertine mooring blocks for ships that could number over one hundred, still visible from above.
When open, a hangar-like museum sheltering five Roman vessels, among them three Tiber river barges, found between 1958 and 1965 while the airport was built.
Scribonia Attice's family tomb, with copies of terracotta reliefs of a surgeon treating a leg and a midwife at a birth.
A black-and-white floor mosaic of ships around the four-storey lighthouse of Portus, with the Greek words "Ode Pausilypos".
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 18 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 18 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Portus and Isola Sacra — Rome's Imperial Harbours, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
18 narration points, including Magazzini di Traiano, Palazzo Imperiale, Museo delle Navi Romane, Late Antique Walls of Portus and Portico di Claudio. That is about 29 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~3–4 hours with the drives total, but you walk at your own pace. 18 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.