Boeri’s intervention reimagines the exterior of the amphitheatre as a modern public space.
The Colosseum Archaeological Park on Wednesday inaugurated a major redevelopment of the area outside the southern side of the ancient amphitheatre.
The new look, designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri in collaboration with Colosseum authorities, reimagines the area as a modern public space while evoking the long-lost original southern outer ring of the monument.
The multi-year project involved the redevelopment of an area “whose late 19th-century layout prevented a full appreciation of the monument, obscuring both the original floor plan and the few remaining structures of the ancient pavement”, according to the Colosseum Archaeological Park.
The project has reclaimed a 1,300-sqm space between the Valadier spur and the Stern spur – two brick buttresses built in the 19th century to stabilise the Colosseum.
The southern outer ring has been missing for centuries, predominantly due to an earthquake in 1349 and subsequent pillaging, leaving the monument lopsided.
The project was supported by €4 million in compensatory funds linked to the construction of Rome’s Metro Line C, which recently saw the inauguration of the ‘archaeo-stations’ at Colosseo and Porta Metronia.
The aim was to restore a sense of legibility to the site, which once served as the primary gateway for spectators in ancient times, by removing the cobblestones laid in the 19th century that sat higher than the original surface.
Over the last two years, the area was paved with travertine sourced from the quarries of Tivoli – the same origin as the Colosseum’s original masonry.
The paving follows years of excavations, begun in 2022, that brought to light the original 2,000-year-old travertine foundation blocks and the “skeleton” of the southern ambulatories.
The intervention by Boeri, who is known internationally for his Vertical Forest building in Milan, transforms the southern side of the monument into an accessible public square.
The new paving is accompanied by blocks placed where the arches of the outer wall once stood, allowing visitors to perceive the full scale of the amphitheatre as it existed in the first century AD as well as giving them a place to sit and rest.
Photo Wanted in Rome
