The morning is sunny and
Rome
smells of coffee, orange blossom, mimosa and basil.
Seagulls fly over the Flavian Amphitheater, which is the original name of the Colosseum.
However, the absence of the thousands of people who, in the pre-pandemic world, came every day to visit this monument of imperial Rome, one of the icons of Italy and one of the most important centers of tourism in the world, is noticeable.
The historic center of the Italian capital is completely empty because half the country has once again risen in confinement, intimidated by the pandemic threat.
The panorama looks like a metaphysical painting by
Giorgio De Chirico
, guarded by ghosts, arches and obelisks.
Since last March 15, the
Archaeological Park of the Colosseum
, the site where the famous amphitheater is located, has been closed to the public, as are the city's museums, cinemas, restaurants, shops and gyms.
However, ICON Design accesses it to visit it together with Alfonsina Russo, the archaeologist who has run this archaeological complex since 2017 and who shares with us the challenges that a space like this faces in a world that is forever changing.
The Italian archaeologist Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park since 2017. JULIO OCAMPO
Russo assures that, during the months of the pandemic, his team has worked to expand the offer of the Archaeological Park - which, in addition to the Colosseum, includes the Forum and the Palatine - and create new routes.
The objective, he assures, is to attract new audiences, "not only the tourist who comes from abroad, but also the local, the native, the Roman, to understand each other".
He believes that the new tourist profile will be "more aware and curious" than before, more demanding and specialized.
And, although he recognizes the virtues of
online
visits
, he conceives them as something provisional "so as not to lose contact with people."
As soon as the authorities deem it appropriate, the Colosseum will reopen its doors, with tickets purchased online but also at the ticket offices, so as not to leave anyone out.
The public interest is undeniable.
Before this latest closure, he explains, the monument has received an average of a thousand people a day in small groups.
And half, he says, have been foreigners, especially Spanish and French.
With no one, between Nero's Domus Aurea and an Arch of Constantine under construction, the imperial colossus is even more imposing.
He is arrogant and projects a mysterious play of light and shadow on the cobblestones, where wild plants spontaneously sprout again.
The noise that the lock makes when it is opened is deafening, crazy because it echoes.
Sunrise, which is no small thing.
Russo's purpose is for people to understand the role of the Colosseum, to know where it is and what it is seeing.
Question.
In 2019 the Colosseum was the most visited monument in Italy, with more than seven million people.
In 2020, however, you suffered a loss of 51 million euros, with 75% fewer visits, as you stated in January.
What is the key to resist?
Answer.
The Colosseum is the most visited place in Italy and one of the most visited in the world.
We are just behind the Chinese wall and the National Archaeological Museum of China.
We are talking about one of the monuments most loved by the international public.
It represents the heart of the world, not just Rome or Italy.
He has endured for all this.
Also for its great humanity and solidarity thanks to the organization of humanitarian events, campaigns to protect peace and ensure multiculturalism and dialogue between nations.
This image is liked by the world public.
Q.
In addition to the current exhibition on Pompeii inside the amphitheater, what program do you have for 2021?
Theoretically, after an armored Easter, everything will flourish again ...
A.
The Archaeological Park of the Colosseum has worked hard to offer something new to people: eco-sustainability, a green park.
The lung is the Palatine.
When it opens, it will offer workshops dedicated to perennial biodiversity.
That is why we are working with organizations for the care of olive trees.
In fact, we have dedicated an area to this precious tree, with two hundred specimens, and we take care of everything, from the plantation to the manufacture and tasting of the oil.
And the same with honey or wine, since we will plant a vineyard that will produce the Bellone wine, known in ancient times.
Pliny the Elder spoke of him.
It was indigenous.
We will also take care of the animals in the area.
There will be workshops and courses to raise awareness about the wild rabbit or nocturnal birds of prey… We have an agreement with associations to place night cameras and control them, protect them and find out how they live.
The director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park believes that the new profile of the tourist will be more aware and curious: "It will demand a more specialized visit compared to what a large part of the people asked for before the virus." Andrea Jemolo / Archivo Coliseo
P.
And at the archaeological level?
R.
We will open new spaces.
For example, the House of the Vestals, the oldest female priesthood in Rome.
Also the Domus Tiberiana, an imperial palace that overlooks the Forum.
From him we will teach some environments to tell the life in the imperial court of Rome, from Augustus to Hadrian.
Our objective is to enrich the offer so that people can deepen their visit, that they can learn about architecture, but also know about daily life at the time, the economy or relations with other regions of the Empire.
Q.
Does this new model have a place in the
wild
tour operators
, the cruise ships that stopped in the port of Civitavecchia so that people could see everything and in a hurry?
R.
This year we hope it has been one of learning, of change.
We intend that these places are not only for mass tourism with little conscious tourists.
No. Our hope is to have a different audience that wants to go deeper, stay more days in Rome and visit each museum, monument or place much more carefully.
We don't want everything to be fast, not even shopping.
Hopefully everything changes for the better, for everyone.
The ideal is a more sustainable economy.
P.
One thing is curious.
The Romans never appreciated - or visited too much - the Colosseum.
Rome, after many years of archaeological work, has inaugurated its third metro line, C, which runs along Via Casilina to the outskirts.
Will that facilitate the arrival of the citizen from the suburbs?
R.
The job is to bring the Romans closer together, but above all the families and young people from the periphery.
We have closely followed the works and, with the collaboration of Roma Capitale and Metro C, Metropolitan Rome, we have created a project based on archaeological discoveries during the works of the metro.
It will be exhibited at the new Fori Imperiali station.
It will be one of the entrances to the central archaeological area and it may be completed by 2024.
P.
Some years ago the director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, lamented the difficulty that people had to understand totem spaces, where continent and content are mixed.
He gave the example of the Borgia Apartments, initially created to be apartments or rooms, and not to be transformed into a museum that receives 20,000 people on average a day.
People did not understand the discomfort.
Did the Colosseum ever have that problem?
A.
We want people to understand the function that these places had.
Why were they built.
The parent idea.
The Colosseum, for example, hosted shows for centuries, but then underwent successive transformations to this day.
People must know where they are and what they are seeing.
Restoration works in the Roman Coliseum.julio ocampo
Q.
In the 2016 exhibition (
Colosseo, un'icona
) there was the whole history of the amphitheater.
Interesting is the
performance
of Paolo Canevari, a contemporary artist who carried on his back a Colosseum made with the wheel of a car.
Was he suffering from the weight of the past or was he criticizing the abuse of the work?
R.
The memory of our past cannot be a weight but something important, our roots to understand the present and the future.
I think I wanted to represent the importance of history.
By the way, this exhibition is already permanently installed here.
I am convinced that it will help people to understand the monument well: the first five centuries it was an amphitheater, then a fortification, a habitable neighborhood ... In the 17th century flora and microclimate were studied here.
Then it was a stage of the Grand Tour.
Intellectuals like Goethe were inspired by him.
And so we come to the great fever of archeology, when it emerges as a monument to visit.
The Colosseum is a living place because it produces culture.
It is not just to be seen, it is not dead or guarding the tourist.
This is where the change happens.
P.
In Italy there are two currents of thought in artistic management.
One is led by historian Tomaso Montanari, who denounces that business is done with heritage.
The other has the voice of Dario Franceschini, Minister of Culture, open to sponsors and private patrons.
What do you think?
R.
I am with the Reformation Franceschini.
Thanks to him, the attention of public opinion is on museums, parks, culture.
This is also civility.
It has created autonomy in the way of managing places like the Colosseum.
We support, with our income, the national system of museums and other Roman monuments.
P.
The public money that Italy invests in tourism and protection of cultural property increased after the fall in 2008. According to the Observatory of Italian Public Accounts, the amount is around 0.15% of GDP and 0.3% of primary expense.
I imagine that you agree with the financing of Tod's (25 million euros for restoration) or Fendi.
R.
Fendi, with 2.5 million euros, helps us to restore the temple of Venus, one of the most important of antiquity.
I believe that this public and private link is important to sustain our heritage, our memory.
Photo of the Archaeological Park of the Coliseum taken last March before it closed its doors to the public.julio ocampo