Editing Colosseum (section)

=== Medieval ===
[[File:Coliseo medieval.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Map of medieval Rome depicting the Colosseum]]
The Colosseum underwent several radical changes of use. By the late 6th century a small chapel had been built into the structure of the amphitheater, though this apparently did not confer any particular religious significance on the building as a whole. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were converted into housing and workshops, and are recorded as still being rented out as late as the 12th century. Around 1200 the [[Frangipani family]] took over the Colosseum and fortified it, apparently using it as a castle. In the early to mid 14th century, the Pope's [[Avignon Papacy|relocation to Avignon]] caused a population decline in Rome that left the region insecure. The colosseum was largely abandoned by the public and became a popular den for bandits.<ref name="History of the Colosseum">{{cite web |title=History of the Colosseum |url=https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Colosseum/History-of-the-Colosseum.php |website=Wonders of the World |access-date=2 November 2022}}</ref>

Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great [[1349 Apennine earthquakes|earthquake in 1349]], causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable [[Alluvium|alluvial]] terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. In 1377, after the Pope's return to Rome, the Colosseum was restored by a religious order called Arciconfraternita del SS. Salvatore ad Sancta Sanctorum, who then inhabited a northern portion of it until as late as the early 19th century.<ref name="History of the Colosseum"/><ref name="colnet">{{cite web|title=MEDIVM AEVVM|url=http://the-colosseum.net/history/medium.htm|website=The-Colosseum|publisher=The-Colosseum.Net|access-date=1 November 2016}}<br/>Names the order: ''Arciconfraternita del SS. Salvatore ad Sancta Sanctorum'', aka ''del Gonfalone''. Co-tenants: the Roman Senate and the Camera Apostolica. "In 1519 The Confraternita built the little chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà inside the Colosseum."</ref> The interior of the amphitheater was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make [[quicklime]].<ref name="claridge"/> The iron clamps<ref name="claridge"/> which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.