Tycoon sets date for Colosseum work

A €25 million restoration of the Colosseum financed by the founder of luxury leather good maker Tod’s will begin in December.

Officials said the work is expected to take two-and-a-half years, during which time the monument will remain open to tourists. The restoration, which also aims to make more of the monument accessible, will recover a wide swathe of the monument’s basement that will open to the public beginning in 2015.