The gladiator games have not returned to the Colosseum, but a horrifying scene took place at the historic attraction when an American tourist impaled himself on a metal fence in a freak accident.
The incident took place last Friday at around 5 P.M. local time.
Tourists watched in horror as the man dangled, screaming in pain until he lost consciousness, still hanging from the fence.
Paramedics arrived at the busy Piazza del Colosseo minutes later. According to the report, the wound was too deep and he was losing too much blood for the first responders to lift him off, so they opted to stabilize him while still impaled on the fence, giving him sedatives to make sure he didn’t wake up.
It took medical staff more than 20 minutes to maneuver him off the spikes. His wound was immediately bandaged before sending him to the nearby San Giovanni Hospital.
He arrived in critical condition, but after successful surgery, and 80 stitches, he is now reported to be in stable condition.
It is unclear why the 47-year old climbed the railing. Il Messagero surmised that he may have been hoping “to get a closer view of the Colosseum, perhaps for an unforgettable selfie.”
“It was terrible,” a tourist told the newspaper. “I saw that man impaled on a railing and he couldn’t free himself.”
Police have launched an investigation.
The man had been in Rome for a few days with family and friends, staying in a guesthouse in the city center. The group had spent their stay visiting many of the city’s historic monuments. When interviewed by authorities, his travel companions could not provide a meaningful explanation for why the man decided to climb the railings.
And in 2014, a Russian tourist received a hefty 20,000 euro fine (approximately $25,400 today) after etching a 10-inch “K” into the Colosseum wall with a stone.