In a few years from now, visitors to Rome’s most famous ancient landmark will be able to stand on the floor of the Colosseum, taking in the same view that gladiators would have had while engaging in armed combat.
A competition was held for designs to reconstruct the arena floor. The ministry announced the winning design, a lattice of wooden slats that will help with airflow. The design by Milan Ingegneria was selected. With an estimated cost of €18.5 million ($22.2 million), the 32,300-square-foot floor is expected to be completed by 2023.
“Reconnecting the thread of time, we are finally returning to the public the same view that people had from the stage of the monument during antiquity,” Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum and its archaeological park, said at a press conference. “The structure is light and recalls both in form and function the original plan of the wooden arena at the time it was first in use.”
The new floor will feature a lattice of wooden slats that rotate to reveal the chambers below, and will be made of sustainable Accoya wood, a chemically treated pine lumber. “The new structure will be completely reversible,” Massimiliano Milan, chief executive officer at Milan Ingegneria. “In 30, 50, or 100 years it will be possible to restore the monument as it is now.”
The Colosseum has long been Italy’s most visited tourist attraction, drawing 7.6 million people in 2019. Opened in 80 C.E., the Colosseum was Ancient Rome’s premiere site for gladiator battles between men and wild beasts; the underground area, which is currently exposed, included cages and a complex pulley system that would bring the beasts to the arena floor for battle.
“It’s another step forward toward rebuilding the arena, an ambitious project that will aid the conservation of the archaeological structures while getting back to the original image of the Colosseum,” Dario Franceschini, the Italian Culture Minister.