26 June 2023 , 14:23
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A tourist has sparked fury after he was filmed appearing to carve words into the ancient walls of Rome's Colosseum using a set of keys.
A fellow visitor was livid to see the damage taking place and decided to capture the act on camera. In the short clip which has been shared on Reddit, the person filming walks up to the tourist, who is engrossed in the etchings.
They can be heard asking him "Are you serious, dude?" However, the vandal seems unperturbed, instead turning to the camera and smiling before returning to finish the carving in the landmark, which is over 1,900 years old.
Although it's unclear exactly what the man is carving, some have suggested that he may be carving his own name and that of a girlfriend.
People have been left infuriated by the act, and took to slamming the unnamed man in the Reddit post titled 'A*****e tourist carves his and girlfriend's names on Colosseum wall', with the video itself already getting over 16,000 views.
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The man was filmed appearing to carve into the wall using his keys (@rytz5873/YouTube)
(@rytz5873/YouTube)When one annoyed poster said they hoped that the clip would see the man facing a penalty, the person behind the clip wrote: "I reported to staff but they sadly didn’t seem too bothered. I shows them the video and pointed the guy out, and they said they told the police but didn’t seem to want the video. I left and didn’t find out what happened."
One angry person wrote: "People like this should have their passports revoked".
Another user added: "How can one be this clueless?"
The person who shared the clip claims they told staff who "didn't seem too bothered".
A fellow visitor claiming to have seen the act take place added: "I was there and saw that too. The guy didn’t even think he was doing something wrong."
If authorities did choose to find the man and press charges, he could be facing hefty fines.
The Colosseum is over 1,900 years old (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Back in 2014 a tourist was fined 20,000 euros (approx £17,000) after allegedly scratching their initials into the wall of the Colosseum.
A year later in a separate incident, two women were arrested in Rome after allegedly scratching their initials into the wall of the Colosseum and taking a selfie.
The women were accused of using a coin to engrave the letters J and N into the historic site. Police charged them with "aggravated damage on a building of historical and artistic interest".
In recent years a number of holiday destinations have been attempting to crack down on unruly tourists.
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Bali recently announced it would be creating a guidebook for visitors after a string of incidents where people stepped over the line.
In February a tourist sparked outrage after mooning on top of a sacred mountain, Mount Agung, appalling locals in the process.
The unnamed man dropped his trousers and pants to pose for a photo atop the revered stony outcrop.
Last year, Canadian actor Jeffrey Douglas Craigen sparked outrage after a video of him dancing naked on Mount Batur went viral.
The following month, a yoga influencer landed herself in hot water after posing naked at a 700-year-old sacred tree in Bali.