The Colosseum in Rome, Italy's most visited tourist attraction, has been closed to the public for two days following the death of a young worker during overnight renovation work. Andrea Moretti, 22, a technician specialised in working at difficult heights, fell ten metres while installing a new lighting system inside the nearly 2,000-year-old amphitheatre. Rome's public prosecutor has opened an investigation into the circumstances of his death.
The closure, covering both Wednesday and Thursday, was declared a day of mourning by Colosseum management. Initially, only part of the monument was shut, but Italy's largest trade union, the CGIL, pushed back strongly against the partial measure. "Humanity comes before tourism," said Natale di Cola, head of CGIL in Rome, who also called for a full explanation of how the accident occurred. Italy's Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli subsequently ordered all construction and maintenance works at the Colosseum suspended until further notice.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the news. "Dying at 22 is unacceptable, and even more so when it happens at the workplace," she said in a statement. The tragedy carries particular weight given its setting: the Colosseum, commissioned by Emperor Vespasian in the first century AD and once the largest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, draws up to 20,000 visitors a day during peak season and serves as a symbol of Italy's cultural heritage.
The accident occurred just hours after the monument had been illuminated in pink as part of a national breast cancer prevention campaign, 'La prevenzione è il nostro capolavoro' (Prevention is our masterpiece), organised by Komen Italia alongside the Culture and Health Ministries. The contrast between the celebratory evening and the fatal accident overnight underscored the human cost of the ongoing renovation efforts at the historic site.
The incident is not the first workplace tragedy near the landmark in recent months. In November 2025, a Romanian construction worker died after becoming trapped for eleven hours under the rubble of a partially collapsed medieval tower close to the Colosseum. Together, the two deaths are likely to intensify scrutiny of safety standards on construction and renovation sites across Rome.