For centuries, visitors to the Colosseum looked down into the darkness of the hypogeum grid — the underground galleries where gladiators and beasts lay hidden. The viewpoint from which 50,000 Romans watched the fights was inaccessible: the floor was gone. In June 2023, this changed.

The project officially named Vela Aurea — funded with €18.5 million by the Colosseum Archaeological Park — gave the arena a new walkable surface of 3,000 square metres. The structure is reversible, leaves the hypogeum untouched and can be dismantled. It is also at the centre of an architectural and heritage debate dividing experts worldwide.

The Project: Reversibility as a Guiding Principle

The technical challenge was to create a floor that:

  1. Did not damage the hypogeum beneath, a UNESCO World Heritage site
  2. Was completely reversible — dismantlable without leaving a trace
  3. Still allowed access to the hypogeum during maintenance or special events
  4. Withstood Rome's weather conditions (rain, summer heat up to 40°C, freeze-thaw cycles)
  5. Was safe for tens of thousands of daily visitors

The winning design — by Milanese practice Milan Ingegneria in collaboration with Ibix — used a system of composite wood planks (wood and polymer resins) resting on a steel support structure that does not penetrate the hypogeum but anchors to the existing arena edges.

The chosen material is not solid timber (which would require continuous maintenance and suffer from underground humidity) but a dimensionally stable composite, treated for UV and moisture resistance. The amber-golden colour — which gave the project its name — visually recalls the original Roman floor's appearance.

The Hypogeum: Visible but Protected

One of the Vela Aurea's most elegant technical solutions is the integration of glazed openings in the floor. At multiple points, transparent panels allow direct views down into the hypogeum below — the two-level galleries where gladiators, animals and machinery awaited their cue.

This choice simultaneously achieves:

  • Visual access to the underground structures without descending
  • Preservation of the hypogeum's microclimate (more stable temperatures, reduced surface humidity)
  • A dramatic experience for visitors walking literally atop the Roman theatrical machinery

The hypogeum tour (separate booking) remains available — the new floor does not preclude a visit to the underground galleries.

Scale of the Works

The new floor covers the full surface of the original arena: 83 × 48 metres, with a total area of roughly 3,000 square metres. The steel support structure weighs approximately 90 tonnes in total and was assembled over about six months of day and night work, with minimal disruption to the monument's public opening.

The walking surface level was calculated to correspond to the historically documented height of the original timber floor — not to the current visible bottom of the hypogeum, which lies lower.

The Controversy: Innovation or Heritage Wound?

The project has not been received without criticism. The main objections concern:

The Aesthetics of the Ruin

A section of the art history and architecture community argues that the Colosseum has acquired, over the centuries, an aesthetic value as a ruin — with the visible hypogeum grid as an identity element of the contemporary monument. Sealing this view with a continuous surface would alter the site's established perception.

The Risk of "Disneyfication"

Some critics have used this term to flag the risk that spectacular interventions transform a historic research site into a theme park. The ability to host private events (concerts, fashion shows, gala dinners) on the new floor has been cited as evidence of this drift.

Regulatory Precedent

Other experts note that the project could pave the way for similar interventions at other Italian UNESCO sites, effectively modifying the principle of non-intervention in ruins.

In Defence of the Project

Supporters, including the Colosseum Archaeological Park, respond that:

  • The principle of total reversibility distinguishes this intervention from permanent ones
  • The ability to walk the arena as gladiators did provides an irreplaceable educational experience
  • The project increased visitor numbers by 34% in its first summer
  • Revenue from private events is reinvested in the monument's conservation

The Visitor Experience: What Changes

Before the Vela Aurea, visitors observed the arena from above, from the first or second gallery. The hypogeum grid was visible looking downward but not walkable (without the special hypogeum tour).

With the new floor:

  • You physically walk the arena — in the same space where gladiators fought
  • The perspective reverses: instead of looking down into the hypogeum, you look up at the tiers, as someone entering the arena would have done
  • The sense of scale is entirely different: standing at the Colosseum's centre and looking up at the four towering architectural orders is an experience no description adequately prepares you for
  • Arena photography offers angles impossible before 2023

How to Visit the Arena

The new floor is included in the standard Colosseum ticket. No separate booking is required beyond the normal entrance.

Opening hours: correspond to the monument's general schedule (opening one hour after sunrise, closing one hour before sunset; see the official website for seasonal details)

Tip: arriving in the first two hours of opening gives you a practically empty arena — crowd-free photography is possible only in these windows.

Accessibility: the floor is accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs; the surface has an anti-slip texture.

The History of the Colosseum's Floors

The arena's original floor — destroyed during the Middle Ages as the hypogeum was progressively excavated and used for quarrying — consisted of timber planks covered with sand. The wood served to conceal the trapdoors and mechanisms for the scenic entries of beasts and gladiators.

Remains of this system are documented through dendrochronological analysis and Roman iconographic sources. The wood was replaced regularly — the underground humidity and the blood of combat deteriorated it quickly.

The decision to reconstruct the floor — even in modern, reversible material — reactivates a spatial function that had been suspended for nearly sixteen centuries.

The Future: A Usable Arena

The Colosseum Archaeological Park has stated that the new floor is also designed to host high-level cultural events — concerts, theatrical performances, institutional ceremonies. This use, already tested before completion with some private events, is at the centre of the debate about the monument's role in the twenty-first century.

The question the project poses — and leaves open — is this: does a living monument better serve its cultural transmission by remaining a silent ruin, or by becoming a space for new collective experience?

Visit with an Expert

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Vela Aurea included in the standard Colosseum ticket? Yes. Walking the arena is included in the standard Colosseum ticket. No separate entrance fee is required.

Can the hypogeum still be visited? Yes. The hypogeum tour remains available with a separate booking at coopculture.it. The two experiences (arena and hypogeum) are complementary, not mutually exclusive.

Is the floor permanent? No. The project was approved as a reversible intervention — technically dismantlable without damage to the underlying Roman structures. No decision has yet been made on whether it will become permanent.

When was it inaugurated? The Vela Aurea was officially inaugurated on 23 June 2023, in the presence of the Italian Minister of Culture.

How large is the walkable surface? The arena measures 83 × 48 metres, for a total area of roughly 3,000 square metres — equivalent to about six tennis courts.

Why is it called "Vela Aurea"? The name combines the reference to the velarium — the sail that shaded the original cavea — with the golden colour of the composite material used for the floor planks.

Article No. 11 — TIER S — MON-01 Colosseum Type: HISTORY Words: ~2,400

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