Who were the amphitheater’s new occupants, the anonymous protagonists of this new, intense chapter of the Colosseum’s life?

The legal owner of all this real estate was the Church (Santa Maria Nova), but the individuals who bought or rented its many properties were laypeople ranging from aristocrats and upper middle-class merchants down to humble tradespeople and shopkeepers. On display in the “Il Colosseo si racconta” permanent exhibition, visitors will find a multitude of small objects found during recent excavations that help shed light on this phase in the ancient building’s life.

Many of these findings are attributable to residences of a certain standing: shards of glazed ceramic tableware, cooking vessels, fragments of large panes of glass and the remains of some upscale food (turtle, game); as well as clothing and recreational items. Similarly linked to the upper classes is the horn-working industry, traces of which can be found at the Colosseum in the form of hornware objects themselves but also deer and roebuck antlers which in some cases have been manipulated by craftspeople.

Evidence of the butcher’s trade is provided by numerous discarded animal bones bearing cuts and nicks. The traditionally female trades are represented with spindle whorls, thimbles and pins of various sizes. The presence of coins gives further evidence of the active commercial life that most certainly animated the arcades.