Swiss teen girl 17, vandalizes Colosseum wall, grimaces when busted. The latest incident of tourist scrawling onto the Ancient Roman ampitheater as authorities weigh to levy 15,000 euros fine.
No f**k’s given. Disconcert has come to the fore following the moment a 17 year old Swiss female tourist was spotted nonchalantly scrawling her initial into the Colosseum wall in yet another act of vandalism at the Ancient Roman structure.
Local media reported the teen girl from Switzerland traveling with her family being caught carving her initial into the popular sight on Friday, July 14.
The un-identified teen reportedly carved an ‘N’ into one of the brick columns of the 1,937-year-old building and was filmed doing so by Italian tour guide David Battaglino, who quickly alerted the security personnel at the amphitheatre.
‘gesture of annoyance’
Battaglino said people were shouting at the girl to stop, only for the Swiss teen girl to shrug off her protesters and walk off with a grimace.
He told Repubblica Roma: ‘It is the first time I have managed to film an act of vandalism at the Colosseum but in six years I have seen dozens, there are also those who rip off parts of the wall. They even spat on me once for scolding a boy.’
The tour guide was leading his tourist group through the sight when one of them pointed the girl out. He approached her and asked her in English whether she wanted a round of applause for what she had done.
Battaglino ended up approaching the girl’s parents, telling them what their daughter had done was illegal, only for the parents to allegedly blow him off with a ‘gesture of annoyance’.
The tour guide took a photo of the family and approached one of the security guards, who later called police. When confronted, the parents reportedly said: ‘She’s just a little girl, she wasn’t doing anything wrong.’
Tourist contempt
How thoughtfully disrespectful and grifting…
The girl and her parents were then taken to the police headquarters in Rome’s Piazza Venezia for questioning, local media reports.
The girl’s act of vandalism could be punished with a fine of up to £12,900 (15,000 euros) or two to five years in prison.
The incidence comes just weeks after a man was caught carving his and his girlfriend’s name into the ancient monument. Ivan Dimitrov, 27, who also goes by the name Ivan Hawkins, was caught on camera by American holidaymaker Ryan Lutz as he carved the words, ‘Ivan and Hayley 23’ into the brickwork with a set of keys on June 23.
Dimitrov reportedly apologised for what he did, while maintaining he was unaware scrawling into the ancient Roman structure was illegal…. the episode continued to be investigated by Italian police.
