Metro line will be built under ancient Roman ruins including the Colosseum

• Rome’s Metro C subway project is moving forward with the construction of a 280-foot-deep retaining wall around the major station at Piazza Venezia.
• Chief engineer Andrea Ciotti estimates project completion by 2034, after several decades of bureaucracy, financing and archaeological hurdles.
• The metro line will pass beneath important cultural heritage sites such as the Colosseum and Trajan’s Column.

A long delayed and complex project to bring a metro line Ancient Roman A significant phase of excavation has been carried out through the ruins and the historic center of Rome, with the excavation of a 280-foot-deep retaining wall around the major station.

Work on the roughly $3.3 billion project, considered one of the most complex of its kind in the world, is expected to be completed by 2034, chief engineer Andrea Ciotti said during a Thursday tour of the construction site in Piazza Venezia.

Construction of the Metro C subway line has been underway for two decades, but it has been slowed by bureaucratic and financial delays and, crucially, by necessary archaeological excavations because of the underground ruins of imperial Roman and medieval civilizations along its route.

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When completed, the metro line will pass under some of the most important roads in the world. cultural heritage It includes some of Rome’s most precious Renaissance palaces, churches and landmarks such as the Vatican – the Colosseum, Trajan’s Column and the Basilica of Maxentius, the largest building in the Roman Forum.

As a result, Italy’s Ministry of Culture has been involved every step of the way and will be present when excavations begin on the first 50 feet of Piazza Venezia station, where the ruins of ancient Rome lie. Sciotti said that during that phase, archaeologists will guide the dig, taking objects for study, restoration and eventual placement in a museum within the station when it opens.

“I think I can say that this is unique in the world because not only do we have the Colosseum and the Basilica of Maxentius, but we also have 15-20 metres of hidden archaeological heritage – known but hidden,” he told reporters at the site. “This obviously brings problems that must be solved in the planning and implementation stages.”

Underlining the fragility and uniqueness of the Piazza Venezia centre, Ciotti said it would take 10 years and $818 million to excavate and build the station, and add four other stations along the Metro C line that runs from the centre to the Vatican and beyond.

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“It would have been very difficult to do this twenty, thirty years ago,” he said. But thanks to new technology it is now possible to excavate beneath archaeological sites and protect heritage above ground, he said, adding that he has presented the Metro C project to Ecuadorian engineers to build a metro line through the historic center of Quito. Are also planning.

At present, excavation work for an 85 m (280 ft) deep reinforced cement retaining wall around the perimeter of Piazza Venezia station is in the initial stages. A giant hydro mill trench cutter digs down rectangular shaped columns which are filled to form a retaining wall to keep out water and secure the perimeter of the site before the actual digging begins.

While Rome already has two main subway lines, one of which stops at the Colosseum, the Metro C line will penetrate the heart of the historic center and connect it to the Vatican and beyond, providing new options for the Eternal City’s chronically inadequate public transportation system.

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Once the line reaches Piazza Venezia, the metro tunnels themselves will run at a depth of 150 feet underground, to protect the historic palazzi and churches above ground from the vibrations that a subway close to the surface might produce.

When opened, the eight-level Piazza Venezia station will provide underground connections to the Vittoriano “wedding cake” monument in the center of the piazza, the Palazzo Venezia museum on one side and the museum under Hadrian’s Athenaeum, built in 123 AD, on the other.

Ciotti said that this was the work of Hadrian Archaeological sites – because of its fragile Trojan Column standing upright – this frightens him the most, even though careful monitoring is underway and the crew will use a buffering technique similar to that used in the Jubilee Tube to limit vibrations above ground. The line was made in London.

“If something happens to Trajan’s Column, I have my passport ready,” he joked.