The Colosseum in Rome, Italy. Photo by Cheng Tingting/Xinhua via Getty Images.
If you’ve ever visited the Roman Colosseum and wished that you could stand on a retractable floor at the center of the action, where gladiators battled with apex predators, and embarrass your family by shouting “Are you not entertained?” like Russell Crowe in
Gladiator, well, you just have to wait a few more years.
Italian authorities say they will build just such a retractable floor in the arena, which has been without one for more than 1,000 years. They have issued a request for bids for a project that will install a new floor so that visitors can experience the Colosseum from the viewpoint of those who fought to the death on its floor.