In Italy someone built a “fake” Roman amphitheater. It ended up with visitors paying €40 convinced that it was original

for a while Arcugnanoa small town in the province of Vicenza, could boast an exotic attraction within the reach of very few municipalities, not even in Italy: a spectacular Roman amphitheater with its stone steps, columns, statues and even a pond. The complex had supposedly been built before 393 AD and its surroundings hid Greek and Neolithic pieces. Behind such a discovery was an equally fascinating figure: a scholar known as Franz Von Rosenfranz in the artistic circuits.

The problem is that this Rosenfranz was actually called Franco Malosso and the supposed amphitheater was a decoration built with plaster, concrete and blocks.

Dating back to 2005. To understand what is perhaps the craziest story so far in 2026 in Italy, you have to go back two decades, to 2005when Malosso found a surprise in the garden of a villa in Arcugnano. Or so he supposedly claimed. That year a landslide exposed the remains of what looked like an ancient archaeological site.

Suspecting that the underground was hiding something, good old Malosso began to excavate and recovered a Roman amphitheater. Or at least, we insist, that’s what counts a crazy story that has ended up falling under its own weight.

A Roman amphitheater? Exact. To be more precise the “Anfiteatro marittimo berico Porto degli Angeli”, which is how was promoted years later the site for the pride of the neighbors and the enjoyment of those visited fascinated by the history of ancient Rome. His magnetism was more than understandable.

The supposed amphitheater had wide stone steps, columns, statues and a pond. The story circulated that the complex had been built before 393 AD and that vestiges of Greek origin or that dated back to the Neolithic had been found in the surrounding area. In a double historical twist, it was even said that Julius Caesar had passed through that same area when he returned to Egypt. with Cleopatra or that Juliet Capulet lived there when she was a teenager.

Great, right? Yes. Too much. In fact, it sounded so spectacular that it didn’t take long for suspicions to fly over the Arcugnano amphitheater. In 2016 The Carabineri investigated the site, archaeologists analyzed the supposed Roman structures and satellite images were also used to study how the area had changed from a bird’s eye view in recent years.

The conclusion was clear: there was no Roman amphitheater, just a recent construction built with more will than skill.

a decoration. The Roman steps had actually been built from modern stone blocks that someone had treated to give them an aged look. The statues were made of plaster and the columns were basically made of fiberglass and concrete. The pond was also somewhat old, having been excavated in recent years. In summary, the Berico Maritime Amphitheater was basically a decoration built without much historical criteria.

A hoax that worked. That someone would build a (more or less exact) replica of a Roman amphitheater in the 21st century is curious, but if the history of the Berico site has aroused the interest of the world press, it is because Malosso managed to convince others that that construction was Roman.

What’s more, it is said that he received up to 40 euros for visiting it and managed, it is not clear how, that the local authorities included the supposed amphitheater in a guide and a promotional app, according to reveals the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

“Italy’s laughingstock.” The result is that what seemed like a tourist attraction has ended up becoming a source of ridicule for the municipality. Paolo Pellizzari, who was then mayor, recognize in Il Giornale di Vicenza that when the deception was uncovered “we became the laughingstock of Italy.”

However, he also defends that Malosso acted with skill: “He had hidden the operation very well and the land was his property.” Much of the work was also done without permits or going through the municipal technical office. “It was presented in a captivating way and promised gold and gold,” he says.

Why is it news? Because history has written a new chapter. And not exactly good for Malosso, who now He is 69 years old. The case has been in court for some time and in 2021 the Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed a sentence of two years and four months in prison for the alleged archaeologist for illegal construction, falsification of works of art and building in an environment with landscape protection. Now, once Malosso’s request for parole has been rejected, the sentence is now effective.

In fact, has entered in Ventimiglia prison.

What does he say? In 2016, shortly after the controversy broke out, La Stampa interviewed Malosso, who assured that in reality there was no deception or that that was never their intention. “That is not the amphitheater, it is a garden with elliptical shapes, a model of what was once there, probably below, described by several poets and writers as ‘the great amphitheater,'” he justified.

The great mystery. The big question is how on earth his deception could escalate to the point of sneaking into an official travel guide or even attracting visitors willing to pay 40 euros. Beyond the concrete columns and plaster statues, experts remind that the context also lacks meaning.

“An amphitheater in the countryside, far from an old urban center, is false,” explains to The Country Jacopo Bonetto, archaeologist. In fact, to be strict, we should not even talk about an amphitheater: the Acugnano structure, shaped like a crescent, fits much better with the characteristics of the Roman theater.

Not to mention the nonsense of some of the temporal references supposedly shared by Malosso. For example, the press claims that he even told tourists that Julius Caesar had passed by there on his return from Egypt with Cleopatra, when the famous couple lived in the 1st BC and the amphitheater supposedly dated from the 4th AD. Now the problem is not historical inconsistencies, but who the hell will undertake the demolition of the site fake.

Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2 (The photographs show the amphitheaters of Pompeii and Tarraco)

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