Devendra Kumar
Italy’s culture and tourism ministers have expressed outrage and vowed to find and punish a tourist who was filmed carving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend into the wall of the Colosseum in Rome. The incident occurred at a time when thousands of tourists were flocking to the Eternal City, already straining its infrastructure and cultural heritage. Ryan Litz, a fellow tourist from Orange, California, captured the moment on video and posted it on YouTube and Reddit, where it quickly went viral.
Litz, who was on a guided tour of the Colosseum, was “dumbfounded” by the tourist’s actions, saying that he was so shocked he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “And as you see in the video, I kind of approach him and ask him, dumbfounded at this point, ‘Are you serious? Are you really serious?'” Litz recalled.
The vandals’ message, “Ivan+Haley 23,” was scrawled on the Colosseum’s ancient wall, earning the ire of Italy’s culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano. Sangiuliano condemned the action as “serious, undignified, and a sign of great incivility,” saying that he hoped the perpetrators would be caught and punished according to the law. The incident marks the fourth time this year that graffiti has been reported at the Colosseum, a disturbing trend for the 2,000-year-old Flavian Ampitheatre.
The culprit, who was not identified, faces fines of up to 14,000 euros and up to five years in prison if caught. Tourism minister Daniela Santanche echoed Sangiuliano’s outrage, saying that she hoped the tourist would be sanctioned and made to understand the gravity of his actions. “We cannot allow those who visit our nation to feel free to behave in this way,” she vowed.
In the past, similar incidents have resulted in severe punishment for offenders. In 2014, a Russian tourist was fined 20,000 euros and received a four-year suspended jail sentence for carving a big letter “K” on the Colosseum’s wall. The following year, two American tourists were also cited for aggravated damage after they carved their names into the monument. As Italy grapples with the weight of tourism and its impact on its cultural heritage, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of respecting and preserving the nation’s ancient history.