Contest: "Your country's symbolic items."

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My country has many symbols and many of them relate to architecture and art.
One of the most famous symbols is the coliseum in Rome. In fact it is the most visited Italian monument, with over 7 million visitors a year.

The Colosseum wasn't the only Roman arena, but it was the largest, in fact it could hold between 50,000 and 87,000 spectators, a huge number at the time!

The Colosseum represents the Roman Empire in all its grandeur but also in its contradictions and violence.

At the coliseum the gladiators who were slaves fought, trained to fight against other men, while other slaves had to fight with ferocious animals such as tigers.

Many do not know that the games in the coliseum and arenas were a spectacle for the people. In fact, the games were surrounded by music and choirs, stories, costumes and staging. Below the central floor were machinery, attendants, tailors and all the characters who were to take part in the show.

Admission was free and they often distributed bread to the poorest. These games were very violent, but at the same time it was as if people, satisfied by such games, could somehow vent their anger.

The real name of the Colosseum is the Flavian Amphitheater, from the name of the emperor who had it built, Vespasiano Flavio. The Colosseum is also famous because it had public toilets! In fact, among the many things that the Romans cared about was hygiene, as they had understood that hygiene was necessary to avoid disease.

Today the Colosseum is the final stage of the Via Crucis, followed by the Pope. Since in Roman times there were many Christians who were enslaved and made to fight in the coliseum, the Pope concludes the via crucis in this place as a sign of respect for Christian persecution.

A curious feature of the coliseum is that around 200 cats live there today. Many think they are stray cats, but in reality the cat population in Rome is controlled, and the kittens of the Colosseum always receive plenty of care and enough food. The Colosseum is a UNESCO heritage site and so are the cats that inhabit it!