Luxury shoemaker Tod’s will fund the restoration of Rome’s Colosseum with a 25 million euro ($34 million) sponsorship campaign, the biggest to rescue Italy’s crumbling archaeological treasures with private money.
“I won’t put Tod’s shoes on the Colosseum,” the company’s chief executive, Diego Della Valle, promised at a news conference when asked if huge advertising billboards would appear on the almost 2,000-year-old monument.
Officials said the branding will be discreet, such as relatively small placards at the base of the Colosseum recognizing Tod’s as the sponsor. The company will also film the restoration and use it in its publicity.