rome
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In the video footage, it almost looks like an earthquake. The ancient Tower of Conti, which has occupied a corner in central Rome since the Middle Ages, suddenly becomes enveloped in billowing clouds as falling bricks erupt from holes in its sides. As the internal structure collapses further, debris and dust fly out of windows and openings, raining down onto the streets below.
“There was a loud explosion, and then everything started falling: cement, stones, people,” a waitress working nearby told CNN on the morning of Nov. 3. “Everyone started pushing through the dust to escape.” One worker involved in the tower’s renovation work was killed and another was seriously injured in the incident, which led to a criminal investigation on suspicion of negligence.
Two weeks after the tower’s partial collapse, a layer of ancient dust still coats the outdoor umbrellas of the Angelino Ai Fori Osteria, a bustling restaurant overlooking the Conti Tower in the heart of what was once imperial Rome.
Something else remains here. It’s a nagging concern about what has happened to a city struggling to bring its infrastructure up to modern standards while preserving the ancient treasures of one of the world’s top tourist destinations.
Although the Tower of Conti was never high on must-see lists, it was a building of such historical importance that it was worth an expensive renovation when it collapsed. Built between the 9th and 13th centuries, the tower’s irregular walls testify to the history of life in Italy’s capital, and through an ups and downs of neglect and rebuilding.
Many tourists encounter this site on their way to see the nearby Colosseum, Roman Forum, and other treasures of the Capitoline Hill, one of the world’s most spectacular open-air museums. According to the Rome Tourism Board, more than 4.5 million people visit the region each year.
Potential causes of the tower collapse currently being investigated include human error in erecting the renovation scaffolding and vibrations from the deep excavation of the new Metro C subway line, which are regularly felt and heard throughout the area.
Both scenarios are important to those concerned about Rome’s future, as debate rages over how the 2,777-year-old city can or will coexist with the needs of modern European capitals.
That no passersby were injured by flying debris during the Conti Tower’s collapse is “both a miracle and a warning,” said archaeologist Tom Rankin, director of the Borromini Institute, a Rome-based educational institution focused on sustainability.
“It’s sad because it seems like we always have these conversations after a tragedy,” Rankin told CNN. “I see Rome as always modern, always evolving, its history as a continuous stream of adaptation, and that is what makes it so attractive.”
He believes greater transparency in the many conservation and restoration projects involving ancient buildings, such as the 7 million euro ($8 million) restoration of the Conti Tower, could help avoid tragedies like the partial collapse.
“When I heard about the collapse of the medieval Tower of Conti, I immediately looked on the Internet to see what kind of projects were being implemented, but in the end I came up empty-handed. Even with all the data we have today, I think it is absurd that documents of projects of public interest are not automatically shared,” he says.
“When we talk about the fusion of the present and the past, it’s not just about physical intervention, but also about access to information.” He believes that if people knew more about what was going on, they could make valid observations. “In some ways, crowdsourcing quality control is not a bad thing,” he says.
The City of Rome publishes information about ongoing construction on its main website. An overview of the work being carried out in and around the Tower of Conti, published in March 2025, shows a map and outlines several discoveries, including the skeletal remains of a man dating back to the 16th century, excavated last year. Specific details about what kind of work was being done inside the tower at the time of its collapse were not disclosed.
After the Nov. 3 incident, officials said structural surveys and load tests carried out at Torre dei Conti in June allowed work to proceed. Preparation included careful asbestos removal. The city government added that no excavation project related to the subway is proceeding under the tower.
“This is an area that has been stratified for thousands of years,” urban historian Nicoletta Bernacchio was quoted as saying on the website. “With the end of the Ancient Era, the entire Imperial Forum complex underwent multiple transformations.”
According to Bernacchio, reports of the construction of this tower first appear in the 13th century, and it is attributed to Pope Innocent III, Count of Segni. “It’s a very tall tower, probably the tallest in Rome,” she added, quoting Renaissance scholar Francesco Petrarca, who called it “the unique ‘Toto Orbe Unica’ in the world.”
Art historian and critic Ludovico Pratesi wonders whether restoration is outpacing preservation in Italy, whether old monuments are being rebuilt rather than simply preserved in their existing state, and whether the country needs new strategies to preserve its increasingly fragile historic buildings.
He called for the creation of a multigenerational body of experts and experts, including archaeologists, art historians, urban planners, contemporary art curators, artists, and writers, to lead the conversation.
“These think tanks will respond to the call of history and develop modern strengthening strategies with concrete and operational projects,” he wrote in the cultural publication Art Tribune after the towers fell.
Without intervention, he worries, cities like Rome will continue to repair monuments without asking whether they should be repaired or not. This is a problem, he says, at a time when “overtourism is sounding the alarm in cities, with a lack of diverse cultural offerings threatening to undermine the Trevi Fountain, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon and the Vatican Museums.”
Rome city authorities, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Colosseum Archaeological Park Authority, last week announced a 1 million euro ($1.2 million) plan, coordinated by fire brigade, to secure the Tower of Conti and the surrounding area.
Meanwhile, modern life in this part of ancient Rome has returned to near normality. Nearby residential buildings that were evacuated when the tower collapsed once again have fresh laundry hanging from their windows, and a nearby restaurant is open, but the area in front of the tower is now fenced off.
Across the street, construction continues on a new subway system, the noise of steady progress echoing through a city still trying to find a balance between preserving its past and building its future.
