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Video showed a man carving his girlfriend’s name on the walls of the Colosseum, sparking outrage from Italy’s culture minister, who said the suspect needed to be identified and punished.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, videos showing the man in the act have been going viral since last week. The unknown tourist carved “Ivan+Haley 23” into the almost 2,000-year-old structure in Rome. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of about $16,400, according to ANSA.
Gennaro Sangiuliano, Minister of Culture, tweeted Monday that he considered it “a sign of great impoliteness.” He expressed hope that the man would be legally punished.
Home to some of the world’s most popular tourist attractions, Rome is struggling to deal with unwelcome visitors. In 2018, the mayor signed a law targeting tourists who engage in certain behaviors, such as bathing in public waterworks. The law requires visitors who destroy artifacts like the Colosseum to restore them to their former state.
Suspects who have previously caused a stir at the Colosseum include an Irish tourist accused of carving his initials there; two American women accused of carving the letters “J” and “N”; and two other Americans accused of breaking into the amphitheater to enjoy their morning beer.
The worst part of a vacation? The annoying things other tourists do.
Venice, another Italian tourist magnet, also had a lot of uninformed tourists to visit. Since at least 1986, the city has imposed etiquette and fines on unruly visitors. The city penalizes feeding pigeons, dumping trash, and surfing its channels. Last year, two Australian visitors were fined $1,500 each after riding motorized surfboards in the Grand Canal.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted that the surfers were “idiots”.
It’s in power that idiots want to liberate the city… I’ve been harassing all the passengers one by one to see our guns rallying… We urgently need to get more people into a public safety issue!
A Chi Li individual offers a Cena! pic.twitter.com/DV2ONO3hUs— Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) August 17, 2022
Unfortunately, some travel destinations have become magnets for misconduct.
On the Indonesian resort island of Bali, immigration officials announced last week that they had deported a Russian man who posted a photo on social media showing him with trousers around his ankles on Mount Agung, a holy site for Hindus.
This isn’t the first time tourists have violated cultural norms at sacred sites.
In 2010, a French dancer stripped naked atop Uluru, or Ayers Rock, a giant monolith in central Australia considered sacred to local Aboriginal people. How would “the French feel if an Australian danced half-naked on the altar of Notre Dame?” Kon Vatskalis, who was a senior local government official at the time, told Australian media. “I think Aboriginal people have every right to be outraged.”
In 2018, Cambodian authorities evicted seven westerners from their country, accusing them of “pornographically singing and dancing” near the famous 12th-century Angkor Wat temple complex. Cambodian police photos show a group of people dressed but lounging on the ground.
Tourists have also done harm to wildlife in popular spots. In the United States, national parks have urged visitors to leave animals alone.
Last month, a Hawaiian man tried to help a baby bison reunite with his herd. The unsolicited heckling resulted in the calf being rejected by its herd, forcing Yellowstone National Park officials to euthanize it.
At Assateague Island National Seashore in Virginia and Maryland, tourists have been feeding wild horses, forcing park officials to relocate at least one that has developed foraging aggression. According to the National Park Service, it is illegal to “feed, touch, tease, startle, or intentionally disturb wildlife.”
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