Thousands of visitors to Rome’s Colosseum will now see a restored setting along the arena’s perimeter that is designed to better match what visitors experienced in antiquity: a newly presented semicircular piazza outside the Colosseum, rebuilt with travertine marble drawn from the same type of stone used in Roman structures.
The restoration project recreates portions of long-gone columns using travertine slabs positioned where the original pillars once stood. It is meant to bring back the proportions of the arcades and arches that, over centuries, were lost after earthquakes and unstable ground led to collapses.
The work centered on a zone that historically served as an entrance gathering area. Roman spectators once crowded beneath two arcades of marble columns, which stretched upward to as much as 50 meters (164 feet), standing while they waited to pass through the entrances and take their seats inside the arena.
In the restored version, tourists can sit on large travertine slabs where the columns once stood and view reproductions of Roman numerals that indicate seat sections. Over time, officials said, the outside area had filled with detritus, including pieces of ruins, and became overgrown with weeds, before restoration began.
Architect Stefano Boeri, who designed the piazza, said in remarks carried by the Associated Press that the restoration’s goal was to restore the visitors’ sense of scale. “These blocks of travertine marble are placed, located exactly where the pillars, the original pillars were based,” Boeri said. He added, “The idea we had was to give back to the public the perception of the proportion of the arcades and the proportion of the vaults of the arches that were used to enter in the center of the Colosseum.”
Excavation began by digging down to the level where travertine paving stones once covered the entrance area, with restorers reaching roughly a meter (yard) below. During that work, they discovered coins, statues, animal bones and a gold ring, according to the Associated Press report.
The restoration also connects to earlier access changes at the site. The project described a nearby underground passageway, used in antiquity by Emperor Commodus to enter the Colosseum while avoiding the “hoi-polloi,” that was opened to the public last year.
Officials said the new slabs of travertine were sourced from the same quarries used by the ancient Romans, quarries that today supply stone for projects including religious buildings, banks, museums, government buildings and private homes. Fabrizio Mariotti, head of the Mariotti Carlo stonecutting firm, said Tuesday that the family has been carving travertine for four generations and that working on the Colosseum matters for that legacy.
Earlier this year, Rome opened two new subway stations, one deep beneath the Colosseum, completing what the report described as a multi-billion euro metro project. The restoration of the Colosseum’s perimeter was carried out, project officials said, using compensatory funds from that metro effort.