It was the secret heart of the largest ancient amphitheater ever built, covered by the arena floor and invisible to the spectators of the time. Dark labyrinths once populated by slaves, gladiators and wild beasts in cages, until 2018 the hypogea of the Flavian Amphitheater could only be partially visited. From 26 June, a new walkway – almost 170 meter long – allows visitors to walk down the tunnels that cross the length of the arena for the first time and to admire its warren of corridors, arches and passageways that were the backstage of the shows organized to amaze the emperor and the Romans.
The new pathway including the arena and the underground corridors is the result of the restoration work begun in 2018 thanks to funding from Tod’s as part of a broader plan of interventions alongside the Ministry of Culture. Works unearthed new archaeological data that was used “to read” the amphitheater’s history, from the moment it was inaugurated in 80 AD to the final games there in A.D. 523. A “monument within a monument” to visit with the help of a special app and two tactile maps.
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