Franceschini: “The arena at the Colosseum will be completed by 2023”

“The restoration of the hypogea, the exterior and the service center were financed with the resources of Tod’s; with the public resources we will complete the arena by 2023 and thus the Colosseum will return to the way it was before the end of the nineteenth century, a place that it will be possible to admire from the center in all its splendor, while the hypogea will be visited in the basement. It will truly be an improvement and a further qualification of the visit to the Colosseum “. This is what is stated by the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, speaking at the Colosseum at the presentation of the restoration of the hypogea. “There was a time in Italy when a conflict between public and private in the protection of cultural heritage seemed inevitable. When I began my term as minister, the restoration of the Colosseum with Tod’s had already begun and I was stunned. and indignant – says Franceschini – to see that Della Valle’s gesture, instead of being greeted by a general ovation of recognition, had even raised controversy … In reality, it is right that there should instead be full cooperation “. Now, observes the minister of Culture, “those late-ideological barriers that contrasted public and private have fallen. In this case, it is a very important intervention financed by an Italian company such as Tod’s which has shown how important it is that all companies, but in particular the large companies that export to the world also thanks to the name of Italy, return to our country in interventions to protect the artistic and cultural heritage, when to receive from our country in terms of image, artistic beauty and cultural richness “.Franceschini then recalls that” the G20 of culture will take place in the center of the Colosseum, on 29 and 30 July, which will begin work with President Mario Draghi: this it is one of the symbols of the country and it is important that the recovery of this symbol of Italy also takes place with private resources. The Art Bonus, the tax incentive we introduced at the end of 2014, brought over 500 million euros in donations to cultural heritage by individuals and businesses. it is still little compared to what could be done. The invitation is therefore to take an example from Tod’s to give back to Italy which – Franceschini assures us – has always been able to give its best in times of difficulty: this is a difficult time and I am convinced that the Italians will give their best “. Diego Della Valle, present at the conference in the Colosseum, underlines that “when public and private have the desire to do things together, then those things come true. We are in a delicate moment, from which we come out with so much pain but also with a great desire to do and start again, giving each other a hand and putting the tragedy behind us. The large companies that are representative of the country and successful must give their contribution, they must expose themselves and not just wait for what the state will do. Now the EU funds are arriving, managed well by a political class that we see to be competent: we have a few months ahead, to give a change to our country “, exhorts the owner of Tod’s. For her part, Alfonsina Russo director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park speaks of “example of good practices and good fruits of the collaboration between public and private, with the financing of the restoration of the hypogea started in December 2018 and completed in 2020 after about two years, with the testing carried out last June 7, involving 81 operators for a total of 55,000 hours equal to 7,000 working days, in the sign of multidisciplinarity. We return to the public the hypogea that are ‘a monument within a monument’, with 160 meters of walkway and 15 annular corridors, with 6 informative stops and 2 tactile maps for the visually impaired and blind, after a complex and important work “. (By Enzo Bonaiuto )