Shoe tycoon takes polish to Colosseum

THE Mayor of Rome has been accused of "selling off" the city's 2000-year-old Colosseum - once the stage for gladiatorial battles and executions - to a shoe tycoon.

When details of a pound stg. 22 million ($34m) restoration deal for the site leaked out earlier this month, critics called it crass commercial exploitation of one of imperial Rome's greatest symbols.

Marco Miccoli, head of the Rome branch of the opposition Democratic party, said: "We're against all forms of privatisation, whether or not they're hidden, of the most important monument in the world."

When the project was announced in January, Gianni Alemanno, the Mayor, hailed it as "the end of a nightmare" and thanked the sponsor, Diego Della Valle, 57, head of Tod's, a luxury shoemaker promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow and popular with fellow actors such as Tom Cruise and Halle Berry.

Mr Alemanno said he was "making a big present to Italy".

With high hopes of other entrepreneurs stepping in to save the country's crumbling art treasures - which give Italy a top-ranking 45 entries on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites - Sandro Bondi, the then culture minister, hailed the deal as "historic".

But concerns are emerging that the deal is too one-sided. It gives Mr Della Valle, who is worth an estimated $US1.3 billion ($1.23bn), exclusive rights to the commercial use of images of the Colosseum. When Volkswagen asked Rome authorities for permission to film an advertisement there, it was told to seek permission from Mr Della Valle.

Mr Della Valle will use a logo featuring the monument on his shoes, bags and perfumes, among other goods, for 15 years. During the restoration and for two years after its completion, he will be free to stamp Tod's logo on entry tickets to the Colosseum.

He will also have the right to display advertisements for Tod's on the walls of the monument. However, the size of the billboards will be limited to a maximum height of 2.4m after an earlier controversy over giant hoardings that hid from sight landmarks ranging from the Bridge of Sighs in Venice to churches in Rome.

A trade union representing staff at the Culture Ministry has filed a lawsuit to establish the legality of the deal, saying it was worth pound stg. 180m in advertising and marketing to Tod's.

But Roberto Cecchi, director of archeological sites in Rome, said: "We haven't sold the Colosseum. On the contrary, for the first time we have attracted private funds to safeguard our heritage."

Mr Alemanno branded those who opposed the deal as "either mad or sworn enemies of Rome". Giancarlo Galan, who became Culture Minister last month, has demanded to see the entire dossier on the deal.

Many archeological sites have suffered in recent years from lack of funds and maintenance, a situation worsened by cuts under Silvio Berlusconi's government, which allocates 0.18 per cent of public spending to the Culture Ministry.

The Colosseum, the greatest amphitheatre in the Roman world, which attracts six million visitors a year, is blackened by pollution, suffers from poor drainage and is shaken by vibrations from a nearby underground line. Three chunks of masonry broke off last year, hours before it opened to the public.

Rossella Rea, the director of the site, called the three-year project "a restoration and a restyling". Starting later this month, the exterior walls will be cleaned and the first two tiers and part of the third tier - which commands an impressive view over Rome - will be restored.

Mr Della Valle's logo may soon crop up on another famous site. He has offered to "give a helping hand" to restoration work at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.