Start of the reconstruction of the Colosseum arena. Franceschini: a great idea

Rome, the tender for the new Colosseum, or rather: for the Colosseum Arena, officially starts. Invitalia’s call for bids for the reconstruction of the Flavian Amphitheater arena where gladiators once did battle was launched this morning: it calls for the awarding of the services of final and executive design and safety coordination during the design phase of the intervention for the completion, conservation and consolidation of the underground structures and the construction of the new floor of the Colosseum arena. In essence, the arena will be reconstructed to allow the public to see it as it was originally (and perhaps even use it for events and performances).

The idea of reconstructing the Flavian Amphitheater arena dates back to 2014, when it was launched by archaeologist Daniele Manacorda, and immediately supported by Cultural Heritage Minister Dario Franceschini, who made it his own by including it in the Great Cultural Projects strategic plan in 2015, allocating a total of 18.5 million euros in funding for the project. According to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, the intervention “will restore the integral reading of the monument and allow the public to fully understand the use and function of this icon of the ancient world, including through cultural events of the highest level.” Technological and integrated solutions will help visitors understand the mechanisms that regulated the complex organizational machinery of the shows and games that took place there.

So, the goal is to make the surface of the floor of the Colosse arena usable again, and to identify a technological solution, compatible and reversible, for the covering of the hypogeal rooms. The interventions, MiBACT points out, will have to be designed in such a way as to simultaneously offer a perception of the arena floor on which the games took place and a view of the complex system of structures and mechanisms below. The tender for the award of design services, published today by Invitalia as the Central Contracting Authority, expires on Feb. 1: the shared goal is to start work by 2021.

The new arena is to be designed as a unified, high-tech plan, consisting of mechanized opening and closing devices, enabling visitors to understand the synergy and close relationship with the underground, including by using systems that reference the mechanisms of ancient elevators and moving scenes. The mobile system will have to be built in such a way that it can be activated quickly and several times in the same day, to protect the archaeological structures from both atmospheric precipitation and excessive sunlight, and at the same time allow the secrets of the complex organizational machine of the performances to be revealed. The final design will be developed in continuous discussion with the Contracting Authority from the design idea that won the tender. Once the final design is approved and all necessary legal approvals are obtained, the timeframe for the development of the executive level will be even tighter, MiBACT promises.

“The reconstruction of the Colosseum arena,” emphasizes Minister Franceschini, “is a great idea, which has gone around the world. It will be a great technological intervention that will offer the possibility for visitors to see not only, as today, the undergrounds, but to contemplate the beauty of the Colosseum from the center of the arena.”

Start of the reconstruction of the Colosseum arena. Franceschini: a great idea

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