Metro Line C, Rome’s third underground line, provided for in the General Urban Development Plan and confirmed in the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan approved on 13 December 2024 by the Metropolitan City of Roma Capitale, crosses the city from south-east to north-west, connecting distant urban areas and significantly expanding the existing underground network.

The line’s total route runs for approximately 29 km and counts 31 stations. It starts in the municipality of Monte Compatri, follows the route of the former Termini–Pantano railway line at surface level, then goes underground just before the Grande Raccordo Anulare ring-road. The line crosses the historic centre, Prati and Mazzini districts, to end at Farnesina district, after passing under the River Tiber three times. The system uses fully automated technology, with driverless trains and automatic doors separating the platforms from the tracks. Line C interchanges twice with Line A (at San Giovanni and Ottaviano stations), once with Line B (at Colosseo/Fori Imperiali station) and once with the regional railways (at Pigneto station).

The route is divided into several sections: T1, from Farnesina station to Mazzini station (excluding Mazzini station), currently in the design phase; T2, from Mazzini station to Colosseo/Fori Imperiali station (excluding Colosseo/Fori Imperiali station), currently under construction; T3, T4, T5, T6A and T7, from Colosseo/Fori Imperiali station to the Monte Compatri/Pantano terminus, plus the Graniti Depot/Workshop, already in service. This line C route division depends on the availability of funding and changes in the public procurement legislation.

The T2 section includes the functional Venezia – Colosseo/Fori Imperiali (excluded) sub-section, under construction from June 2023, and the Mazzini – Venezia (excluded) sub-section, under construction from February 2026. The section extends for a total of 4.5 km and includes 5 new stations. A 165,000 cubic-metre archaeological excavation will be carried out to build the 5 stations.

Construction of Section T2 began with the Venezia – Colosseum/Imperial Forums sub-section (excluded), comprising the tunnel section from Venezia station to the boundary of Section T3, which had already been excavated in September 2020 as part of the works for Section T3 (CIPE Resolution 76/2019). With regard to Venezia station, the final design and the related Financial Framework were approved by Order No. 3 of 30 December 2022 of the Government’s Special Commissioner for the construction of Line C, funded entirely by the State with funds allocated under Law No. 164 of 11 November 2014 and Law No. 234 of 30 December 2021. On 16 June 2023, following the approval of the detailed design, preparatory work began and the first construction sites were opened in Piazza Venezia and at the beginning of Via dei Fori Imperiali. The works are expected to take approximately 10 years.

As regards the remaining section of T2, the final design and the associated Financial Framework for the Mazzini – Venezia (excluded) sub-section, funded entirely by the State with funds allocated under Law No. 234 of 30 December 2021 and Law No. 197 of 29 December 2022. Following the decision by the funding bodies to construct the T2 section simultaneously with the T1 Farnesina – Mazzini (excluded) section, the Commissioner subsequently approved, by Order No. 12 of 30 December 2025, the final design for the variation to the Mazzini – Venezia (excluded) sub-section together with the final design for the T1 section, the

updated General Financial Framework for the project (including the T1 section), and the integrated construction schedule for the T1 and T2 sections.

Construction work on the Mazzini – Venezia (excluded) sub-section, following approval of the detailed design, started on 25 February 2026 with the fencing off of the areas around the Chiesa Nuova, Piazza Pia/Castel S. Angelo, Ottaviano and Mazzini stations. The works are expected to take approximately 10 years. The tunnels will be constructed following the start of works on the subsequent T1 section, after the TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines) have been lowered into the ground via the shaft of the future Farnesina terminal station, proceeding from there to the Venezia station without interruption. 

At the Piazza Venezia construction site, both the TBMs coming from Farnesina and those that excavated the T3 section – which are currently stationary underground at the site of the future station – will be extracted.

Venezia station is located beneath the square of the same name, with exits next to Palazzo Venezia and at the beginning of Via dei Fori Imperiali on the Trajan’s Forum side. A further exit at the beginning of Via del Teatro Marcello, next to the Vittoriano, will be connected to the station entrance hall by an underground passage. Venezia is one of the three archaeological stations on the T2 line (along with Chiesa Nuova and Piazza Pia/Castel S. Angelo stations) and will not only house, exhibition spaces for the artefacts and archaeological structures uncovered during the excavation on the entrance hall, but will also serve as a cultural hub thanks to underground connections to the basement of Palazzo Venezia, Hadrian’s University discovered in Piazza Madonna di Loreto, the Archaeological Park of the Forums and the Vittoriano Museum. The station lies 45 metres below street level.

The funding for Venezia station is included in the Economic Framework (Q.E.) for the Rome Metro – Line C, Section T2, amounting to €692,516,904.57, relating to the sub-section from Venezia station to Colosseo/Fori Imperiali station (excluded).

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