Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has announced the Colosseum will reopen on Saturday, three days after 22-year-old rope-access worker Andrea Moretti fell to his death while installing lighting inside the monument, in what he called Italy’s “umpteenth workplace fatality”.
The Colosseum is set to reopen to the public on Saturday, Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said Friday, following the death of 22-year-old rope-access worker Andrea Moretti earlier in the week.
Moretti, who was born in Abruzzo, died overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday after falling approximately 10 metres while working at height inside the Flavian Amphitheatre, installing a new lighting system for the monument. He specialised in high-altitude rope access work. It is believed his harness slipped off its safety line. Emergency medical teams from Ares 118 attempted to resuscitate him at the scene, but he could not be saved.
Giuli met with Colosseum Archaeological Park staff on Friday to assess whether conditions were right to resume operations, describing the young worker’s death as “Italy’s umpteenth workplace fatality” and voicing hope that the tragedy would unite people around the need for safety and justice.
“The Colosseum will reopen tomorrow,” Giuli said, adding: “Today was the time to share our feelings with the staff — to look at, speak to, and listen to one another as a united body and move forward, while awaiting the course of justice and knowing that, as soon as possible and in the appropriate forums, we will address all issues regarding safety and workplace protections with union representatives.”
Investigation continues
Carabinieri from the Rome Central Company and the Investigative Unit attended the scene on the night of the accident, along with the medical examiner and the duty public prosecutor. Representatives of the Labor Inspectorate and the local health authority’s workplace safety unit, ASL SPRESAL, also attended, as is standard procedure following a fatal workplace accident. The area where the fall occurred has not been placed under judicial seizure, and investigators continue to work to establish the exact circumstances that led to it.
The Colosseum Archaeological Park closed as a mark of mourning. With the Park’s reopening now confirmed for Saturday, attention turns to the promised talks with unions on safety and workplace protections.
