VERONA, Italy — About 2,000 years ago, the Romans built the Arena di Verona to host gladiator games. After weathering an earthquake in 1117, a stint as a quarry and hundreds of years of operas and concerts, the venue played host to the Olympic closing ceremony on Sunday, after two weeks of competition and 116 sets of medals given out across 16 sports.
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The event offered a bit of everything. For fans of high art and deep symbolism: iconic opera characters, elaborate costumes, opera singing, acrobatics, dance. For fans of history: stone arches all around, dating back to the first century AD.
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