New travertine paving replaces cobblestones to restore original footprint of amphitheatre.Rome's Colosseum is putting the finishing touches to a major restyling project designed to evoke the ancient arena's southern outer ring, missing for centuries.The €2.2 million project, which replaces the sampietrini cobblestones with massive slabs of travertine, began just over a year ago and has been overseen by the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. The work concerns the southern side of the monument between the Valadier spur and the Stern spur (two brick buttresses built in the 19th century to stabilise the Colosseum) in the area between the Arch of Constantine and Via Celio Vibenna. While the northern façade of the Colosseum remains largely intact, the southern outer ring collapsed - most significantly during the great earthquake of 1349, before the remains were pillaged - leaving the monument lopsided and its original elliptical boundary obscured. New look The completed project, set to be inaugurated by Easter, aims to address this missing structure by laying travertine paving in the exact location where the outer wall once stood. This physical and visual guide to the Colosseum’s original geometry will allow visitors to perceive the full scale of the amphitheatre as it existed in the first century AD. Mixed reaction in Rome to the new restyling around the Colosseum. pic.twitter.com/B08VGc92Pf — Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) February 16, 2026 The choice of travertine is both symbolic and historical: the original Colosseum was constructed using more than 100,000 cubic metres of this durable limestone, quarried from nearby Tivoli. By using the same material for the new ground-level paving, the archaeological park creates a material continuity between the ancient structure and the ground. 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 new slabs are placed at the original Roman ground level, replacing a 2000s-era platform of sampietrini that sat higher than the ancient surface. New public space The project also transforms the area into a more functional public space, with travertine blocks to serve as seating, placed in correspondence with the original pillars that once supported the monument's outer ring. "All the work done so far is reversible and made with innovative, specially patented materials," Simone Quilici, director of Parco Archeologico del Colosseo, told newspaper La Repubblica. Mixed reaction The project, whose progress has been documented in videos by Wanted in Rome over the past year, has received little media attention until this week. Works underway outside the Colosseum pic.twitter.com/zSK7uKl20P — Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) May 29, 2025 The works, which are not visible to passing motorists on Via Celio Vibenna, seem to have gone largely unnoticed by many Romans whose reaction to the project on social media in recent days has been decidedly mixed.    Critics claim the new look is "too modern", lacks greenery, and "looks like a cemetery". Others have applauded the Colosseum archaeological park for restoring a footprint that was lost for centuries.   Photo Artribune

Rome's Colosseum is putting the finishing touches to a major restyling project designed to evoke the ancient arena's southern outer ring, missing for centuries. The €2.2 million project, which replaces the  cobblestones with massive slabs of travertine, began just over a year ago and has been overseen by the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. The work concerns the southern side of the monument between the Valadier spur and the Stern spur (two brick buttresses built in the 19th century to stabilise the Colosseum) in the area between the Arch of Constantine and Via Celio Vibenna. While the northern façade of the Colosseum remains largely intact, the southern outer ring collapsed - most significantly during the great earthquake of 1349, before the remains were pillaged - leaving the monument lopsided and its original elliptical boundary obscured. The completed project, set to be inaugurated by Easter, aims to address this missing structure by laying travertine paving in the exact location where the outer wall once stood. This physical and visual guide to the Colosseum’s original geometry will allow visitors to perceive the full scale of the amphitheatre as it existed in the first century AD. Mixed reaction in Rome to the new restyling around the Colosseum. — Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) The choice of travertine is both symbolic and historical: the original Colosseum was constructed using more than 100,000 cubic metres of this durable limestone, quarried from nearby Tivoli. By using the same material for the new ground-level paving, the archaeological park creates a material continuity between the ancient structure and the ground. 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 new slabs are placed at the original Roman ground level, replacing a 2000s-era platform of sampietrini that sat higher than the ancient surface. The project also transforms the area into a more functional public space, with travertine blocks to serve as seating, placed in correspondence with the original pillars that once supported the monument's outer ring. "All the work done so far is reversible and made with innovative, specially patented materials," Simone Quilici, director of Parco Archeologico del Colosseo, told newspaper La Repubblica. Works underway outside the Colosseum — Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome)