A “stupid” tourist damaged Florence’s famous Neptune Fountain this weekend when he climbed into it to take a selfie and broke a piece of marble from the 16th-century site, officials said.
Security footage captured the 22-year-old German man trying to climb the iconic monument’s car to pose for photos and break pieces of marble, Florence Mayor Dario Nardella said in a post on X as he shared a blurry image of the delinquent. visitors.
“There is no justification for the vandalism of cultural heritage,” the mayor said on Monday.
The man also damaged the horse’s soles on the way down, according to Deutsche Welle, Germany’s state-owned broadcaster.
He caused about €5,000 ($5,400) in damage to the fountain and faces a hefty fine, officials said.
The Fountain of Neptune, which was restored in 2018, has stood in Piazza della Signoria since 1574.
The tourist caused more than $5,000 in damage and will pay “a huge fine,” the mayor said. DarioNardella/Twitter
The iconic sculpture took 10 years to complete, and was commissioned during the reign of Cosimo I de’Medici, who had dreams of making Florence a naval superpower.
The unveiling of the statue also coincided with the completion of the city’s new water and aqueduct system.
Tommaso Muccini, the architect of fine arts at the Palazzo Vecchio, told the Florence newspaper La Nazione that security cameras caught the “idiot” as the tourist jumped down from the precious statue.
The statue has been an iconic fixture in Florence since it was built in 1574.Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The damage will be repaired during the monument’s scheduled maintenance in October, he said.
The incident comes as a recent wave of tourists has been arrested for damaging various historic attractions in Italy.
Earlier this summer, two tourists were caught carving their names into the iconic Roman Colosseum, and two others were arrested for spray painting slogans for the Munich soccer team in the Vasari Corridor, which connects to the city’s famous Uffizi Gallery.
Under Italian law, acts of vandalism can be charged under “grave damage”, which carries a maximum sentence of three years. DarioNardella/Twitter
A graffiti attack late last month caused $10,800 in losses, Italy’s Carabinieri military police said.
In July, a 17-year-old Swiss girl was filmed carving the letter “N” into one of the landmark’s walls, just a month after Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian-born fitness trainer, was caught carving his fiancée’s name into the monument.
Under Italian law, acts of vandalism can be charged under “aggravated damage,” which carries a maximum sentence of three years.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
