I first saw this story in The Annotico Report and then the original article in the Telegraph.co.uk. It's about the Roman municipal government looking for ways to boost a tourism industry apparently not doing as well as in the past. This is crucial for the Italian economy because, according to Wikipedia, Italy is ranked as the 5th major destination in the world - in other words big time money is at stake. So what is the Roman government thinking of doing to boost tourism? Open up a theme park (Disneyland style is the term used) based on the glories of ancient Rome. This is the perfect American way of problem solving.
I initially thought this was a horrible idea. Aren't there wonders enough in Rome to attract tourists willing to spend money to help support the Italian economy? The problem with my reaction is it's coming from a person who reads college history textbooks for pleasure, and one who is accumulating a small library on ancient Roman history/culture/ecomony/literature (I can hear people yawning when they read that last sentence).
The Roman city government may be on to something. Maybe a theme park could be the initial tourist magnet providing heavy foot traffic to all of the other historical destinations in Rome. Think of it...a 3D chariot race ride could lead tourists to want to explore the real Circus Maximus, or a similar kind of gladiator ride could bring people into the real Colosseum. The possibilities of theme park attractions based on ancient Rome are endless.
Then there are the purists who think a theme park will cheapen Rome and it's history...maybe, but you know what? If I took my 12 year old kids to Italy right now for two weeks to explore it's history and culture they would moan and groan the whole time. But if there was a cool amusement park to go to as well, the moans and groans would be softer, and the Italian economy would greatly benefit from an Agazio family visit.
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