The Civitavecchia customs house was built by Pope Clement XIII in 1764 and is now the seat of the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia. It is naturally located in the port area, a few steps from Forte Michelangelo. The museum includes artefacts recovered from the ruins of the Municipal Museum and finds discovered during the renovation of the port area and in excavations in the necropolises of the area and in the nearby site of the Baths of Trajan or Taurine.
The museum preserves the main historical and archaeological evidence of the city founded by the Emperor Trajan, with the function of the port of Rome, a role that is still played today, and houses finds from the territory, both from the sites of the coastal coast and from the Tolfa Mountains. The National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia currently presents a route divided into two floors, with evidence from the dawn of civilization, throughout the ancient age, up to the Middle Ages.
On the ground floor, among the most interesting finds, is the statue of the god Apollo (1st century AD), discovered during excavations in the Simonetti villa in Santa Marinella, the ancient summer residence of the Roman jurist Eneo Domizio Ulpiano. It is most likely a reproduction of the Colossus of Rhodes.
Of particular importance are also a reproduction of the Athena Parthenos by Phidias, dating back to the mid-2nd century AD, and some marble heads, including one depicting the emperor Marcus Aurelius as a young man. On the ground floor, it is also possible to visit an Epigraphic Hall, which houses the magnificent Roman epigraphs of the Imperial Fleet.
