Unless there is a major effort to drum up support, Rome's Colosseum risks not being recognised as one of today's Seven Wonders of the World.
"If Italians do not embark on a serious vote gathering campaign, the chances of the Colosseum making the list are very remote, observed Swiss filmmaker and adventurer Bernard Weber, who has organised a worldwide contest to pick today's Seven Wonders of the World.
Over 60 million votes have already been cast via Internet, SMS and phone, organizers said.
Weber has promised to use some of the proceeds his initiative to help pay to restore the Bamiyan Buddhas, which were blasted to pieces by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in March 2001.
The winners of the contest will be announced in a gala event staged at the Benfica soccer stadium here on July 7, which can also be written as 07-07-07 to highlight the 'magic' number 7.
The bash is expected to cost 12 million dollars and include performances by a slew of entertainers including tenor Jose' Carreras, dancer Joaquin Cortes, fado singer Dulce Pontes and Italian tenor Alessandro Safina.
The 90-minute event will be broadcast by some 160 TV channels worldwide.
A total of 50,000 tickets will be sold to the public at prices ranging from 55 euros to 140 euros.
The Colosseum was one of 21 finalists announced on May 21.
The others included such landmarks as the Acropolis in Athens, the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, China's Great Wall, the Machu Pichu Inca ruins of Peru, India's Taj Mahal, New York's Statue of Liberty, the 'Mad' Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle in Baveria, the Sydney Opera house and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt.
The Pyramids are the only site which was also one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one which still stands.
The other six were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
