The young tourist – still unidentified – who defaced the Colosseum by carving his and his girlfriend's names (Ivan+Haley 23) into one of the walls of the Flavian Amphitheatre with keys risks a fine of at least fifteen thousand euros and up to five years in prison.
Some people present filmed the scene, which presumably took place on June 23, and the video ended up on social media and alerted the police.
“I consider it very serious, unworthy and a sign of great incivility that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world, a heritage of history such as the Colosseum, to engrave the name of his girlfriend.
I hope that whoever committed this act at the Flavian Amphitheater will be identified and sanctioned according to our laws." This was stated by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, commenting on the video of a tourist who wrote a message on the ancient walls of the monument using a bunch of keys.
The Colosseum Archaeological Park Authority filed a complaint on Sunday 25th for the damage to the Flavian Amphitheatre, two days after the video of the defacement by a tourist was published online.
According to what has been learned, the complaint was notified to the Carabinieri of Piazza Venezia, who are now investigating for deterioration of cultural heritage and violation of the urban police regulation. With this latest episode, there have already been four complaints for damage to the Colosseum registered in the first six months of 2023: one in February, one in May and one exactly one month ago.
