A woman has been filmed climbing into Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain to fill up her water bottle.
The footage, recorded last month, shows the tourist is seen climbing across the rocks and using one of the fountain’s spouts to fill her bottle, before a security guard blows a whistle and is seen marching towards her.
The two have a brief discussion before the guard leads the woman away. It appears that the woman is trying to explain her actions, it is not known exactly what was said during the brief exchange.
Lex Jones was among those who filmed the incident, and said that “there were signs all over saying that’s not allowed”, and that the woman didn’t seem to understand what she’d done wrong, according to Insider.
It remains unclear what happened to the tourist after the incident, and whether she was arrested or fined. The Independent has contacted the country’s state police for further information.
The incident follows a recent spate of similar occurances in Italy, with people disrespecting some of the country’s most famous monuments. Last month, a person was filmed swimming and diving into the famous 18th-century fountain, and Corriere della Sera reported that tourists were applauding.
After the incident, Alessandro Onorato, Rome’s councillor for Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion, urged authorities to limit access to the fountain, calling the incident “pure barbarism” and “a mockery of the historical and cultural heritage of our city”.
“Police fines and multiple appeals to common sense are no longer enough. This is not the tourism we deserve and need,” he added.
Elsewhere in the city, in July a man was filmed carving a name into the walls of the Colosseum, and Italian police later identified him as a fitness instructor from Bristol. The man in question later made a written apology to the city’s mayor.
And last week, Tourists who destroyed an Italian sculpture in Lombardy valued at €200,000 have been denounced as “imbeciles” by the country’s deputy prime minister, with a local politician demanding reparations for their actions.
