Fear this morning in the Imperial Forum area of Rome, where part of the Torre dei Conti, a medieval monument overlooking Largo Corrado Ricci, suddenly collapsed during ongoing restoration work. The incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. and resulted in a cloud of dust visible all the way up Via dei Fori Imperiali, just a few steps from the Colosseum. Firefighters with three operational teams, two ladder trucks and special search and rescue units under rubble immediately responded to the scene, along with 118 medical personnel and law enforcement.
According to initial information, four workers who were working on the site were rescued: three of them were on the top of the tower and were evacuated with the ladder truck, while a fourth worker, who was partially trapped under the rubble, was extracted by firefighters and entrusted to the care of health officials. He was found to be injured and was transported to the hospital for assessment.
The entire area of largo Corrado Ricci and the stretch of the Imperial Forum adjacent to the tower were immediately closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic to allow safety operations. Officers of the Roma Capitale Local Police - Group I Centro manned the accesses and diverted traffic, while the Capitoline Superintendence sent its technicians to carry out an initial check on the damage to the structure and scaffolding of the construction site. Shortly after the collapse, Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli also arrived on the scene and closely followed the rescue operations and the firefighters’ inspection.
The Torre dei Conti is currently undergoing consolidation and restoration work financed with Pnrr funds, part of the larger program to restore the monuments of ancient Rome.
The Torre dei Conti, built in the 13th century and originally about 60 meters high, is one of the most important medieval fortified buildings in Rome. It stands in the Monti district, near the intersection of Via Cavour and Via dei Fori Imperiali, on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Tellus. Its history is linked to the powerful family of the Counts of Segni and Pope Innocent III, who commissioned its construction in 1238 as a sign of prestige and political control over the city.
In the past, the tower was also known as Torre Maggiore, an appellation that testifies to its original grandeur. The building, which in the Middle Ages towered well over its current 29 meters in height, attracted the admiration of Francesco Petrarch, who described it as “Turris illa toto orbe unica,” or “the unique tower in the world.” Over the centuries, the structure suffered numerous damages from earthquakes, particularly the one in 1349, which made it uninhabitable. It was later restored and reinforced in the 17th century under Pope Alexander VIII, who had the two characteristic supporting buttresses still visible at the base built.
Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the urban interventions that led to the opening of Via Cavour and, later, Via dei Fori Imperiali isolated the tower from the surrounding built fabric, giving it back the appearance of an autonomous monument, almost suspended between the ancient and the modern.
During the Fascist period, in 1937, the tower was donated by Mussolini to the Federazione Nazionale Arditi d’Italia, which established its headquarters there. The following year, the hall of the Temple of Peace, on which the base of the tower rests, was converted into a mausoleum for General Alessandro Parisi, the federation’s president, who died in a car accident: his remains are still found in the Roman sarcophagus that occupies the hall.
Firefighters remain at work to remove debris and verify that there is no further risk of collapse. The area will remain closed to the public at least until structural investigations are completed.
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| Rome, fear in the Imperial Forum: part of the Torre dei Conti collapses, one worker injured |
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