Italy’s ‘leaning’ Colosseum faces new delay in restoration

ROME, Italy – Rome’s ancient Colosseum is leaning and needs urgent repairs but the long-delayed restoration project has been pushed back to December, the site’s director said Monday, July 30.

Experts have discovered that the former gladiator battle ground is tilting about 40 centimeters (16) inches on its southern side, possibly due to cracked foundations, sparking fresh fears the iconic monument may be falling apart.

“It could be due to several factors: flaws in the original construction — though 40 centimeters is rather a lot for that case — or problems with the foundations,” the Colosseum’s site director Rossella Rea told AFP.

The landmark 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater, which is at the centre of a busy intersection, has been dogged by problems with chunks of the arches falling off in December last year, following similar reports of damage in 2010.

Rea has appointed Italy’s Institute of Environmental Geology (IGAG) and La Sapienza University in Rome to explore possible reasons for the tilt. Their findings are expected to be published in a year’s time.

News of the tilt came as Italy’s cultural minister prepared to unveil the latest timetable for the Colosseum’s long-awaited restoration on Tuesday.

The restoration works have been delayed by a series of protests by trade unionists over Italian tycoon Diego Della Valle’s plans to clean up the dirt-streaked arena.

In January, the billionaire threatened to pull 25 million euros ($32 million) in financing following investigations into alleged irregularities.

The three-year restoration project, which aims to increase by a quarter the areas to which tourists will have access, was supposed to begin in March. It was postponed to July and is now unlikely to start before the end of the year.

“If everything goes as planned, we’ll be able to begin in December… unless there is another appeal” to halt the project, Rea said.

Designed as a 50,000 seat amphitheater and completed in 80 AD under the Emperor Titus, the Colosseum was used for gladiator contests and mock sea battles. It is considered one of the masterpieces of Roman architecture.

The number of visitors to the site has gone from around one million visitors a year to around six million annually over the past decade — thanks mainly to Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic film “Gladiator” starring Russell Crowe.

Rea downplayed the latest outcry over the arena’s condition, insisting that the tilt may not be new and has yet to been closely studied by experts.

“It’s a recently discovered trait which will be monitored to see if the lean advances over time,” she said, adding: “It doesn’t worry us.”

Rea also dismissed other expert theories which blamed the heavy traffic around the historic building for causing irreversible damage.

“It’s not true, because that part of the monument is not exposed to traffic,” she said. – Ella Ide, Agence France-Presse