Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur

Rome, Sept. 3: The Circus Maximus, one of the glories of ancient Rome, is to get a £2.5 million makeover.

Two millennia ago, the elliptical stadium could seat more than 300,000 baying Romans and was used for chariot races.

Spectators sat on marble terraces while the emperor and senators looked on from sumptuous boxes in scenes recreated in the 1959 Charlton Heston epic Ben-Hur.

But over the centuries the area has deteriorated into an overgrown grassy bowl, used by runners during the day as a jogging track and frequented by drug addicts by night.

Most recently it played host to the celebrations that followed Italy’s World Cup victory over France, but apart from the spina, or central reservation, in the middle and the crumbling starting gates, very little of the original remains.

Now city officials have joined forces with the designers Zetema to revamp the area, with work due to begin early next year and scheduled to be completed by end 2008. The restoration involves cutting the weeds and bushes that have invaded the track and restoring the remains of the starting gates.

A full excavation of the site is also planned, the first since a partial dig in the 19th century and the only proper study ever to have been carried out at the site.

Gianni Borgna, of Rome city council’s monuments department, told The Sunday Telegraph: “The project will restore one of ancient Rome’s most famous sites which over the years has become a little neglected and run down.

“Over the centuries it has fallen into disrepair and it is now little more than an abandoned and overgrown wild park. Many tourists are disappointed by the state it is in but, once the work has been completed, it will look very impressive, a worthy recreation of one of ancient Rome’s most spectacular sights.”