a view of two men fighting inside the colosseum
The experience invites participants to dress up as a variety of gladiators. Photo: courtesy Airbnb.

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For those not satisfactorily entertained by Gladiator II, the highly-anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 classic, there’s a way to get closer to the action. Airbnb is offering fans the chance to “suit up and unleash your inner gladiator inside Rome’s legendary arena.”

Following a 10-day application period from November 27 to December 9, a select group will be invited to enter the Roman Colosseum in May under the flicker of torchlight. Once onsite, the winners will be led into the Colosseum’s underground chambers, the hypogeum, where they will dress up in period-accurate armor before doing battle in the world’s most famous arena.

A row of decorated shields is laid out in the Colosseum experience. Photo courtesy of Airbnb.

“You will feel the adrenaline rush, you will hear the echoes of gladiators past, you will see the moon’s reflection off the travertine stone, you will become a gladiator,” the experience’s host, Lucius writes in the promotional post. While participants will be plied with Roman snacks, including grapes, pomegranates, and almonds, “by decree of the Emperor no guest shall stay the night.”

Created in partnership with Paramount Pictures, the exclusive gladiator offering follows on from Airbnb’s donation of $1.5 million to support the restoration of the Colosseum, a move the San Francisco company plans to repeat at heritage sites across Europe. The pushback to the Colosseum experience was firm and immediate.

Headlines in Italian newspapers accused Airbnb of turning the 2,000-year-old arena into an amusement park, Romans weighed in mockingly on social media, and the capital’s councilor for culture Massimiliano Smeriglio asked the company to cancel its initiative. “The issue is not the public-private relationship or the desire of big brands to support the protection and conservation,” Smeriglio said in a statement. “But to avoid a demeaning use of our historical-artistic heritage.”

Extravagant decor greets guests at the Airbnb experience. Photo courtesy of Airbnb.

The reaction comes at a time when destinations across Europe are struggling to cope with surging visitor numbers, which can increase costs and reduce services for locals—factors critics believe are exacerbated by short-term rental platforms like Airbnb. For its part, Airbnb claims its platform helps travelers find destinations away from major Italian cities, a point it has celebrated by renovating rural properties, including and a so-called 1 Euro house in the Sicilian village of Sambuca and offering it rent free for a year.

Airbnb’s Colosseum gladiator experience is offered free of charge to the lucky participants and it designed to generate publicity. It follows similar marketing efforts with major cultural properties in the past. Last year, it recreated Shrek’s swamp house in a secluded wood in the Scottish Highlands; ahead of this summer’s Olympics, it offered overnight stays at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris; and in October, it transformed a New Jersey house into the iconic residence from Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (2024).