An ancient underground tunnel that links the Colosseum with the remains of a gladiatorial training barracks could be restored and opened to the public thanks to a donation from Kuwait.

Generations of gladiators lived and trained in the Ludus Magnus or Great Gladiatorial Training School, the largest such facility in Rome, which was located just a few hundred yards from the amphitheatre.

The remains of the training school can still be seen, squeezed between two busy roads in the shadow of the Colosseum and frequently littered with rubbish.

The authorities in Rome have long wanted to restore the archaeological site and open up the tunnel which leads from the barracks into the bowels of the Colosseum.

Gladiators would don their helmets and armour and collect their weapons before walking through the torchlit passageway to emerge onto the sandy arena of the amphitheatre, in scenes depicted memorably by the Ridley Scott film Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe.