American tourist causes $27,000 damage at heritage tourist site in Rome

An American woman has thrown an electric scooter down the Spanish Steps in Rome, causing 25,000 euros (about $27,000) worth of damage to the marble stairs. The Spanish Steps are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Charged with damaging a monument

At 2:45 am on 3 June, two American tourists, a man and a woman aged 29 and 28, were descending Rome’s famed Spanish Steps with electric scooters. The woman apparently tried manoeuvring the scooter down the steps and decided to push it down instead, as reported by The Independent. The incident was recorded on video by a passerby.

According to a news release from the local police, the two tourists were each fined €400 (about $430). As it was the 28-year-old woman who appeared to purposefully push her scooter down the stairs, a more formal complaint was filed against her for damaging a monument. That offence is punishable by a fine of at least €2,000 or up to one year in jail.

The two were 'completely drunk'

A spokesman for Rome’s City Council, Franco Pasqualetti, said that the pair were 'completely drunk' on the night of the incident and had been banned from the site for six months following the damage to the marble stairs, as reported by The New York Times.

The Spanish Steps underwent a 10-month, €1.5 million restoration in 2016. This latest incident comes after a Saudi Arabian man drove a Maserati sports car down the steps just a few weeks ago.

Mr. Pasqualetti said that, in this case, it was an accident not an act of vandalism:

Instead of turning right he turned left and found himself on the staircase. At that point he did not have the time to brake and went down the stairs.

It's not only Rome. A few weeks ago, two American tourists were caught swimming naked in a Venice canal, into which neighbouring houses drain their sewage, in the residential district of Castello.

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