ROME — The Colosseum has expanded its night tour programme this summer, opening until 11 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays as record heat discourages visitors from coming during daylight hours. The extended schedule doubles the two-evening-a-week programme the monument previously offered.
Simone Quilici, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, said the decision to add Friday and Saturday nights was driven by visitor preference for cooler conditions. "The idea of doubling the night tours and doing them also on Fridays and Saturdays was mainly to give access to visitors that prefer cooler hours," Quilici said.
Each tour is capped at 275 people, keeping foot traffic well below the 20,000 visitors a day the site draws at the height of the tourist season. The programme is fully booked for the summer.
All tours are guided and cover both the arena floor and the underground passages where animals and gladiators were held before events. Visitors on a tour this week described the experience in the illuminated monument as notably different from a daytime visit.
Victor Li, 52, who toured the arena and underground passages, told AFP that conditions after sunset were far more comfortable. "After sunset is a lot more comfortable," he said. Svetlana Spielberg, visiting from the United States, called the night visit "really beautiful and more romantic" and said the daytime heat made mornings and afternoons difficult. Marco Pravini, visiting from the northern Italian city of Cremona, said he had also seen the amphitheatre during the day but that at night "the light, the atmosphere is much more magical."
The extended opening was made possible by a grant from Italy's culture ministry. Quilici said the programme has the scope to run through September, though no formal extension has been announced.
Rome's summer heatwaves have intensified pressure on cultural sites that draw millions of visitors annually. Officials acknowledged that some tourists were staying away entirely because of the heat, making the loss of daytime footfall a practical concern for site management as well as a visitor comfort issue.
The Colosseum was built in the first century and remains the largest amphitheatre ever constructed. At its peak it held around 50,000 spectators for events including gladiatorial combat and animal hunts. Today it is one of the most visited monuments in Europe, receiving up to 20,000 people on a single peak day.
With the summer programme already sold out, organisers have not announced plans to increase the nightly cap beyond 275 or to add additional nights to the schedule.
