"Circo Massimo - What Would You Do?" Topic

Today, Rome's ancient chariot racing track is a neglected field of grass.

What would you like to see done with it?

If this is the place I'm thinking of, when I visited Rome in 2004, the area had grassy slopes and a flat, grassy central area. At the time, they seemed to be setting up lighting and a sound system, so I assumed it was an informal site for concerts. The track area was too narrow to use it for automobile races, even if you paved it. Just not enough room to turn at any speed. Maybe it would be different with motorcycles (said the guy who hasn't ridden a motorcycle in over 40 years).

Grelber

I'll bulldoze it for fifty quid and a case of beer.

BMX track, with spikes on the wheels, trees in random places, small ramps over mud pits. I want a percentage of the concession sales.

How about, I dunno, restoring at least part of it to its original condition?!?

Nah, let's level it for motor sports and concession stands.

Leave it alone. Attempts at restoration, even when done in good faith, always end up being at best the subject of exasperated sighs from later generations, and often end up doing more damage than good. Look at the work Mussolini did on the Colosseum, for instance, or Napoleon III's restoration of Carcassonne.

Trying to restore it for actual *use* would be even more of a mess: it would be horrendously expensive and controversial, much moreso than just building a new site for the same purpose on the same land. It'd be difficult to find a use for the land that's commercially viable: sure, it could be used for horse-racing (or cycling, but that's about it), but is there enough demand for a horse-racing track to sustain one in that location and justify the expense of construction? And it would do even more damage to the archaeological remains.

If I remember rightly it's currently possible to walk the track of the Circus, which is enough for tourists to get a sense of the scale. Leaving it as a field is probably the best way to preserve the site. Holding the odd open-air concert/theatre/film showing or the like is probably as good a use for it as anything and doesn't require major construction work.

It is both a public park and an important archaeological/heritage site. As such, it should be preserved as it is.

It is hardly "a neglected field of grass" and why would you need to 'do' anything with it? By that reasoning Stonehenge is just a pile of old stones that need pulling down so that something useful can be done with the site….

Nah…

When something like this comes up – like the La Haye Sainte debacle – the issue always arises: what does this place mean? What does it stand for?

And the answer is: absolutely nothing. The only meaning and value to such places is that which we ascribe to them.

In Britain, we value Stonehenge. Go us.
If the Italians don't place any value on the circus or on it's preservation, then…

…fifty quid and a case of beer.

@ Ivan DBA, apologies if I struck a nerve. My comments above were meant to be tongue in cheek and humorous. I probably failed, again.

I was just joking too.

actually the Circus Maximus is under restoration … link

It did make a great car park at one time, handy for the city centre.

Actually I would like to see more of a restoration in situ or even sympathetic re-construction to make it a useful place again both for the citizens of Roma and tourists alike.

Continue with the archaeological work as said above. The Circus is a truly ancient site, nestled between the Aventine and Palatine, it was used far back into the ancient times of the city. I'd love to see if the whole thing excavated. From what I last read, there are layers of dirt and sediment still covering the thing.

Another good circus right outside the city of the Via Appia is the Circus of Maxentius next to the tomb of his son, Romulus (d. 309 AD – obviously not THE mythical Romulus). You can still see and touch the structures of the spina and metae in the circus(central barrier and turning posts) and get an idea of what the Circus Max looked a bit like. If you find the Circ Max on Google earth then you can track the road straight south to the Via Appia and see it all right outside of the city. Very neat and historical area.

Went past it last week.

I wouldn't mind seeing a SMALL section of it reconstructed to give a sense of what it looked like, but leave the rest of it as it is. If you want to see something more like it used to be, then follow Mars Ultor's suggestion about Maxentius' private racetrack. It's within walking distance of a couple of the popular catacombs on the via Appia, so there's a lot you can do on the one trip in that direction.

Two of the Egyptian obelisks that used to be positioned along the spina of the Circus Maximus can be seen elsewhere in Rome, outside St. John Lateran and in Piazza del Popolo. And I'd leave them there, too.

Having visited the circus it's fine as is! They could use a nearby space for a museum on the circus or maybe sideshows and candy floss?

Stonehenge is quite something but as to being valued by the poms, ha! It's probably better to do a drive by on one of the motorways that run next to it rather than pay good money to walk near. How long before it becomes yet another roundabout anyway!?

I believe Stonehenge has a shiny new visitor centre which has opened in the last few years. It was an embarrassing headache for ages but there has been an attempt to sort it out.

There is one road close by (not a motorway) which was closed to public traffic and partially buried as part of the improvement works to the site. It's far enough out from any major settlements that it's not in any particular danger from further road development.

The western side slope on the Aventine side where people usually sit on the Circus is, I think, part of the original seating or at least seems like part of the structure's base. My kids were running a race on the track and I looked more carefully at that slope. Seemed like under a thin layer of grass that there was definite concrete, in pretty rough shape. Wish I could have started digging, but I didn't want to see the inside of an Italian jail.

Speaking as a tourist, I enjoy run-down, overgrown ruins on historical sites. Nice atmosphere.

So first choice is leave it alone, and second choice is archaeological investigation, with results visible to me next time I visit.

BTW, "Norman D Landings", you are a historical miniatures player ??? (…)

MH

Yep.

One who has long since come to the conclusion that you can't force people to value heritage…

Who likes beer…

And can always find a use for fifty portraits of 'er Majesty.

After all, my own ancestors nicked the stone for their houses from Hadrians wall… boo-hoo/shrug.