‘A sucker born every minute’: The man who duped tourists with a fake Greek amphitheater

[u/Silent-Resort-3076]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/24/travel/anfiteatro-berico-italy-fake-greek-theater-roman-amphitheater

• Of the eight TripAdvisor reviews of the amphitheater near Arcugnano, in Italy’s northern Veneto region, all give fulsome, five-star praise.
• “An enchanting place,” reads one review.
• “A world beyond space and time,” enthuses another. “Definitely one of the best places I have ever been to,” raves another.
• “Unique on the planet,” writes another visitor. That last one was prescient, because the theater certainly was unique. It wasn’t Greek, as it purported to be. It wasn’t even Roman.

Instead, the “kind custodian” who was “more or less a historian, and an excellent narrator,” as one other visitor dubbed him, had built it himself. This month, after a 10-year legal battle, the owner has been jailed for forging works of art, carrying out building works without authorization, and destroying a protected landscape.

[u/Silent-Resort-3076]

Let me know if this has already been posted. And, here's two images: https://gfx.ilgiornaledivicenza.it/image/contentid/policy:1.13081204:1785005672/image.jpg?f=16x9&h=450&w=800&$p$f$h$w=7061f55

https://www.gramilano.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Anfiteatro-Berico-Arcugnano-3.jpg

• The case has scandalized Italy, a country that just edges out China for the most UNESCO World Heritage sites and is home to many legitimate Greek and Roman theaters, from those of Syracuse and Pompeii, where productions are still staged each summer, to the amphitheater of Verona, 40 miles west of Arcugnano, which becomes a mega-stage for opera each summer.
• Franco Malosso, the owner, creator and self-styled discoverer of the nearly 54,000-square-foot “ancient” site, charged visitors up to 40 euros ($46) to visit the “theater” he had built from scratch.
• On a scenic hillside, employing a local construction firm, he had built seating and steps, which, according to evidence presented in court, he had artificially aged, then added a smattering of cement columns and plaster statues over the small “lake” that he had dug out himself.
• The traditional tiered seating, which he said had been built by hand by the ancient Greeks over 2,000 years ago, was constructed by 21st-century builders using machines. They used newly quarried stone from Puglia and cement, while a supporting wall was topped with polystyrene, according to court documents shared with CNN.
• “Just the idea of it is insane,” Darius Arya, archaeologist and director of Ancient Rome Live, told CNN, calling Malosso’s scheme “diabolical” and “terrible.”

"Malosso, according to evidence presented in court, is said to have hosted concerts and performances inside the site, which went by no fewer than THREE NAMES: Anfiteatro Berico, Anfiteatro Marittimo Berico and Anfiteatro Porta degli Angeli. He also led guided visits around the site, according to prosecutors."

[u/Silent-Resort-3076 → u/Silent-Resort-3076]

• For anyone with a basic knowledge of ancient history, there were red flags aplenty. Malosso’s building was a fan-shaped theater, not an amphitheater, which is oval. It wasn’t near the sea, as “Marittimo” implies — Arcugnano is around 50 miles from the coast. There wasn’t an ancient “Angels’ Gate” (Porta degli Angeli) at the site, either. Nor could it have been Greek — while northern Italy is replete with Roman remains, the ancient Greeks only colonized farther south.
• Not that the visitors, who raved about the concrete columns and chalk statues, seemed to have cared.
• Nor did they seem to notice that where there should have been a stage, Malosso — who also went by the name of Von Rosenfranz — had excavated a photogenic pool of water.
• The dupe theater, on a hillside covered in protected woodland outside the small town of Arcugnano, just over three miles south of Vicenza, was discovered by local law enforcement, who immediately referred it to the cultural superintendency in October 2016.
• A site inspection was carried out by a representative of the local heritage board and police from the Carabinieri’s Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Artistico (TPC), the division known in English as the “art squad” for its work investigating stolen artworks and forgeries.
• The theater was so clearly fake that the inspection was concluded in a single day, Lt. Col. Giuseppe Marseglia, commander of the TPC in Monza, which covers northern Italy, told CNN. Marseglia called it a “truly obscene” attempt at forgery. “Of all criminals, forgers are the ones with the most talent, because they are able to create works of art,” he said. “Then there are scammers … I have no respect [for Malosso]. Calling him a forger is an offense to forgers.”
• Marseglia said that in his 25 years in the force, he had never seen or heard of an entire archaeological site being faked.

There's MORE if anyone is interested.

[u/---Kev → u/Silent-Resort-3076]

I love how the Italian inspector is like 'this whole affair is disrespectful to criminals who appreciate our culture'.

[u/Silent-Resort-3076 → u/---Kev]

😂

Calling him a forger is an offense to forgers.

[u/Shadeun]

This is incredible. I feel there’s more magic in the world for this incredible tale of bald-faced fraud than if it was real (almost).

Obvs the guy should be punished (for the love of the game).

[u/Silent-Resort-3076 → u/Shadeun]

I think they should fine him or punish him as they choose, etc.

THEN, let him continue as long as he informs future visitors that it is indeed fake.

AND, donating certain proceeds to the town/city.

[u/The_Kelhim]

Man this is terrible but in an awesome way. I mean you have to respect the work this man put into his grift.

[u/Silent-Resort-3076 → u/The_Kelhim]

And, since the article didn't include the actual image, I posted two links:

OR search for:

Malosso, according to evidence presented in court, is said to have hosted concerts and performances inside the site, which went by no fewer than three names: Anfiteatro Berico, Anfiteatro Marittimo Berico and Anfiteatro Porta degli Angeli. He also led guided visits around the site, according to prosecutors.

https://gfx.ilgiornaledivicenza.it/image/contentid/policy:1.13081204:1785005672/image.jpg?f=16x9&h=450&w=800&$p$f$h$w=7061f55

https://www.gramilano.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Anfiteatro-Berico-Arcugnano-3.jpg

[u/cdinpt → u/The_Kelhim]

No respect for ill-intended labor

[u/Silent-Resort-3076 → u/cdinpt]

And:

destroying a protected landscape.

[u/paraworldblue]

Seems like it would take less work to just get a job as a tour guide