Colosseum corridors reopen
Rome reopened the southern ambulatory corridors of the Colosseum after restoration work that used authentic travertine marble from the same ancient quarries to recreate the footprints of long‑gone columns. Visitors can now walk those newly restored corridors and experience the monument’s scale from the southern front again. (archdaily.com) (townandcountrymag.com)
The Parco Archeologico del Colosseo formally inaugurated the restored southern ambulatories on March 17, 2026. (reutersconnect.com) The intervention reinstated the lost crepidine by lowering the surrounding piazza by roughly one metre and repaving about 3,130 square metres with a radial layout of trapezoidal travertine slabs. (archdaily.com) Forty‑four raised travertine benches, each 40 centimetres high, mark the footprints of the vanished outer columns, and Roman numerals engraved into new travertine slabs reintroduce the original gate numbering system. (dezeen.com) An “archaeological window” cut between arches 65 and 71 exposes stratified foundations, while excavation-and‑conservation work concentrated along the southern façade between arches 60–76 and 1–18. (stefanoboerinteriors.com) The redesign also reorganised surface stormwater drainage to fit the restored levels and specified Classic Travertine to ensure material continuity; Mapei served as a technical sponsor and the Colosseum programme has longstanding support from Tod’s. (archdaily.com) Local reporting placed the enhancement budget at about €2.2 million for the southern‑side works. (wantedinrome.com) Stefano Boeri and Giorgio Donà framed the project around principles of reversibility and accessibility and described the outcome as a recalibration of the monument’s southern scale achieved through collaboration among archaeologists, researchers and technical partners. (stefanoboerinteriors.com)
