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The colossal 1,700-year-old Basilica of Maxentius, originally home to a courthouse within the Roman Forum, was later ravaged, left to decay, privatized, and eventually returned to public use. Since 1960, it has served as an Olympic wrestling venue, movie theater, and arena for rallies, plays, and concerts. Massimo Alvisi and Junko Kirimoto—he Italian, she Japanese—have reinforced this civic vocation by designing a stage that reconnects the three halls, plus earth-and-lime flooring, interpretive totems, and lighting. The stage’s birch-plywood panels serve as an exhibition pathway and can be moved to offer multiple layouts; they evoke both the original Roman paving and a tatami mat—a counterpoint to the brickwork and steel rods anchoring the structure. A tiptoe intervention, this versatile piazza rekindles vitality in a ruin brimming with life.

Photo © Giuseppe Miotto Marco Cappelletti Studio