Priceless Roman Real Estate
A couple of weeks ago, friends and I went to see a show in the Ar è nes de Nimes, the famed Roman amphitheater in the south of France. Nearly every summer night les Ar è nes hosts singers, orchestras, folk shows or corridas (bullfights). No doubt, these arenas are busier nowadays than during their pane e circo (bread and circus) glory when gladiators, beasts or Christian martyrs were providing gore-loaded entertainment. This year’s gladiators are called Lenny Kravits, Sting, Indochine, and Norah Jones, the pop music glitterati. The late Johnny Halliday performed last year in a sold-out amphitheater. It was built to accommodate 25,000 spectators, but now only seats 13,000 because modern staging takes about a quarter of the seating area. We were about 8,000 enjoying the farewell concert of Italian composer Ennio Morricone. With tickets priced between Euro 50 and 200, it is not a bad business for a city the size of Nimes with a popula...