The Roman Amphitheatre in Piazza Stesicoro, a tourist site that has been closed for several years despite being one of the remaining symbols of Ancient Catania, officially reopens on Wednesday 3 July at 6:00 pm. The event will be attended by the mayor Enrico Trantino, the prefect Maria Carmela Librizzi, the director of the archaeological park of Catania Giuseppe D’Urso, the superintendent of cultural heritage Donatella Aprile, the president of the city council Sebastiano Anastasi, the president of the Scuola Superiore di Unict Daniele Malfitana, councilors and city councilors.
The Monument has been under the management of the Municipality for a few weeks thanks to a collaboration agreement stipulated between the Municipal Administration and the Regional Archaeological Park. Last April 24, the Municipal Council chaired by Mayor Trantino, who maintains the delegation for Culture, in fact, approved the collaboration scheme with which the Archaeological Park allows the Municipality to use its own professionally qualified staff for the public use and enhancement of the Roman Amphitheatre; to support the costs for opening to the public, ordinary maintenance and cleaning of the site, the organizational secretarial service (information, bookings for visits), the surveillance service and the stipulation of insurance policies.
Prices, discounts and opening hours
For this reason, the Municipality has entrusted the ticket office and access to the Roman amphitheatre to Co-op Culturea company that carries out the same activities in the Colosseum in Rome. The entrance ticket for the amphitheater is set at 4 eurowith discounts for university students, schools, seniors over 65, military personnel and resident citizens. Free admission for disabled people, children under 10, tour guides and journalists. For the inaugural afternoon, access will be free for everyone with orchestra members from the Catania music conservatory who will perform in artistic performances. The summer schedule for visits to the remains of the Amphitheatre is continuous, every day, from 9:00 to 19:00 (last admissions at 18:30).
The municipal administration has also cleaned the spaces inside the amphitheatre, which can now be visited more completely than before, reorganised the entrance system and improved the tourist signage.
The Mayor’s satisfaction
“We are proud and honoured to return one of the city’s symbolic monuments – commented on the Mayor Trantino – a goal that we set ourselves since our inauguration given the difficulties of the Region in keeping the site open. It was really painful to see it closed with so many tourists forced to remain outside. We have taken on a responsibility to enhance the remains of ancient Catania, finding institutional collaboration in the Region, the Superintendency, the University and the CNR who have collaborated to achieve a goal that I do not hesitate to define as being of historical importance for our city, an added value for the many visitors who come to Catania from all over the world”.
The University of Catania – School of Specialization in Archaeological Heritage / National Research Council Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences (formerly Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage) have made available captions and videos of a scientific project carried out years ago, still very current. Mayor Trantino has announced that activities related to the best use of the site are also being planned, both with research institutions and with interventions to safeguard and enhance the monument even at night.
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