Constantine Arch in Rome Damaged by ‘Apocalyptic’ Lightning Storm

The Constantine Arch in Rome has endured everything that history has thrown against it since it was built to commemorate the emperor’s victory over Maxentius in the Battle at Milvian Bridge in AD 312, but an ‘apocalyptic’ lightning storm that pelted the Italian capital with more than 60mm of rainfall in less than one hour took its toll on the triumphal arch situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. Tuesday’s violent storm broke fragments of white marble off the ancient structure and cast them onto the ground. Tourists found some stray remnants and handed them over to technicians who went straight to work as soon as the storm passed. “It is kind of surreal that we found pieces,” said Jana Renfro , a 69-year-old tourist from Indiana, who found fragments about 12 feet from the base of the monument. The group’s tour guide, Serena Giuliani, praised them for turning over their discoveries, saying it showed “great sensitivity for Roman antiquities.”

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