Understanding of the city of Rome was then being transformed by a series of excavations, including renewed work on the Roman forum (started under Giacomo Boni in 1898), and Ashby wrote a regular series of reports on these developments for the "Classical Review" (1899–1906), "The Times", the "Times Literary Supplement", and the "Antiquaries Journal" (1921–5, 1930). (Also, in 1890, four years after the Staines brewery's privatisation, Ashby's father had settled in Rome, exploring the Campagna and becoming friends with Rodolfo Lanciani.)