An Italian conman who built a fake Roman amphitheatre and charged tourists £35 to visit it has been jailed. Franco Malosso von Rosenfranz boasted that the Berico Maritime Amphitheatre near Vicenza was 'the oldest and largest, among the most spectacular in the world'.
Fake antiquity built in 2000s
The ancient artefact was not from 393AD as advertised but was constructed in the early 2000s using stuccoed blocks, plaster statues and columns made from fibreglass and papier-mache. The self-described 'philanthropist, entrepreneur and orchestra conductor', 69, even deceived the local government, which included the site in a tourism promotion guide and app.
Malosso was exposed in 2016 when a police investigation was launched and archaeologists examined the site, Corriere della Sera reported. Satellite images revealed recent landscape changes and the absence of any ancient structure.
Elaborate historical claims
He told tourists he discovered the area along with artefacts dating back to the Neolithic, Greek and Roman eras. According to his version of history, Julius Caesar himself visited the amphitheatre on his return from Egypt with Cleopatra. Juliet Capulet was also said to have lived at an ancient church there, despite Shakespeare's play being set in Verona.
When the scam was uncovered, Vicenza's deputy mayor Jacopo Bulgarini D'Elci called it 'one of the most incredible hoaxes since Orson Welles's War of the Worlds'.
Sentence and damages
Malosso was jailed this week for illegal construction, forgery of works of art, and production of artefacts without authorisation. He received a two-year and four-month sentence and a €3,000 fine. The Municipality of Arcugnano has also sought €560,000 in damages.
