redevelop while respecting history –

«Among the first commitments as minister there was a long discussion with the mayor of Rome for the redevelopment of the Fori Imperiali area which led to the signing of a protocol resulting from the work of the joint technical table for the evaluation of the project on the area of ​​the Forum in which the director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, and the special superintendent of Rome, Daniela Porro, were present on behalf of the Ministry of Culture”. This was said by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, speaking today, in Rome, at the Trajan’s markets – museum of the Imperial Forums, together with the mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri and the Capitoline superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce, at the presentation of the provisional ranking of the international call planning project «La Nuova Passeggiata Archeologica», for the implementation of interventions in the area of ​​the Imperial Forums, announced last October by Roma Capitale – Capitoline Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

«In the protocol, signed by me and the mayor Roberto Gualtieri, some key and essential points have been established for the intervention that will be carried out. Among these – the minister explained – respect for the historical constraint of via del Fori Imperiali, already conceived in the Napoleonic era with the projects entrusted first to Giuseppe Valadier and Giuseppe Camporesi and then to the French architect Louis-Martin Berthault, the first to propose a linear axis between the Capitoline Hill and the Colosseum, with a particularly interesting project also for its ability to recompose the archaeological excavations into a unitary design. An idea also reiterated in the subsequent plans starting from the one drawn up by the engineer Viviani and signed by Agostino Depretis in 1883, which ensured the connection and protection of the perspective view of the Colosseum from Piazza Venezia”.

«So now – added Sangiuliano – the winners’ project must be harmonized with what was signed at the time without any narrowing of the roadway of Via dei Fori Imperiali. I believe and hope that all this is possible when defining the executive project. The extraordinary influx of visitors during the Easter period has shown us how the Colosseum area constitutes one of the great beauties of the world. Our duty – he concluded – is to protect it and enhance it while also respecting history.”