Colosseum shines after magnate-financed restoration

Associated Press

ROME

The Colosseum has emerged more imposing than ever after its most extensive restoration, a multimillion-euro cleaning to remove a dreary, undignified patina of soot and grime from the ancient arena, which has been assailed for decades by pollution in traffic-clogged Rome.

Footing the bill is shoe-and-luxury goods maker Tod’s.

In an act of modern-day cultural patronage, company founder Diego Della Valle responded to a government call to the private sector to help Italy’s chronically anemic coffers to care for its immense art and archaeological treasures.

And buoyed by the brighter look of the Colosseum’s restoration, which was officially unveiled on Friday, Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini, announced that $20 million has been found to replace, by the end of 2018, the arena’s long vanished floor with one that could support “cultural events of the highest level.”

The exterior cleaning cost $7.2 million.

Tod’s is paying for the entire project, whose next steps include constructing a visitors’ center with a cafeteria and shoring up the bottom of the arena, where gladiators prepped, and wild beasts and scenery were kept for spectacles for the ancient Roman masses.