Although it still has to be approved by Italy's Ministry of Culture, there's a sizable offer currently on the table to restore Rome's legendary Colosseum by Diego Della Valle of the luxury brand Tod's.
The project, no doubt a colossal one, would cost upwards of 25 million euros (or approximately $32.8 million) according to WWD, which not only speaks volumes about the enormously charitable nature of the offer, but also the state of the brand itself. Clearly, Tod's had a good year in sales, otherwise Della Valle would have been insane to propose such an offer, which, if approved, would still have to be accounted for to the groups' shareholders.
Della Valle told WWD that the project would be a cultural, not a commercial one—no strings attached (there goes renaming it the "Tod's Arena.") Given the sheer number of historic monuments there are in Italy, this kind of underwritten support, if approved, might incite other companies to follow in the luxury brand's footsteps.
