ROME — The traditional Roman Colosseum would be the venue of gladiator fights — albeit staged — for the primary time in two millennia below a $1.5 million sponsorship cope with Airbnb that goals to advertise “a extra aware tourism.”
However some guests to the monument Thursday, in addition to housing activists, had been skeptical in regards to the worth of the association, citing ongoing controversies in lots of cities over the position of short-term rental platforms in fueling overtourism and limiting reasonably priced housing for residents and college students.
Beneath the deal introduced by Airbnb and the Colosseum on Wednesday, the sponsorship by the short-term rental big will cowl the renewal of an academic program inside the traditional Roman amphitheater overlaying the historical past of the construction and gladiators.
Eight of the platform’s customers and their plus-ones will have the ability to take part in fake gladiator fights after the Colosseum’s closing time on Could 7-8, taking the identical underground route utilized by gladiators in historical Rome to succeed in the world. Folks can apply for the expertise on Nov. 27 for gratis, and the “gladiators” might be chosen by lottery.
The superintendent of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, advised The Related Press that the deal is along side the discharge of Ridley Scott’s new movie “Gladiators II,” which opened in Italy on Thursday.
Russo characterised the sponsorship association as one of many many such offers to assist finance initiatives on the park.
The Italian vogue model Tod’s, for instance, has funded a multimillion renovation of the Roman monument, together with a cleansing, changing the locking system of arches with new gates and redoing the subterranean areas.
Alberto Campailla, the coordinator of the Nonna Roma nonprofit group that focuses on housing and meals for the poor, known as the marketing campaign with Airbnb “a shame,” and a type of “touristification.”
Airbnb and different platforms providing short-term leases “are actually driving folks out of not solely town heart, but additionally the outskirts and suburban neighborhoods,” Campailla stated.
Vacationers from different European cities grappling with overtourism additionally took subject with the deal.
“It appears to me that the aim of the Colosseum immediately is to be a vacationer attraction, however to not create an amusement park inside it,” stated Jaime Montero, a vacationer visiting from Madrid. “In the long run, tourism eats the essence of the cities, right here in Rome, as in different capitals.”
Visiting from Naples, Salvatore Di Matteo noticed the deal as “one more takeover of the territory” by huge firms.
“In the event that they begin to contact sacred monuments such because the Colosseum right here in Rome, it’s clearly one thing that ought to make us assume and is, in any case, a bit worrying,” he stated.
The Colosseum is a very powerful and largest amphitheater constructed by the traditional Romans. Constructed within the 1st century, it was the middle of fashionable leisure, internet hosting hunts and gladiator video games, till the sixth century.
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Colleen Barry contributed from Milan.
