Naples: Tourist attacked at dawn on the Rettifilo: bottle thrown at the head and robbed

Naples – They spotted him, followed him for a few meters, and then attacked him while the street was still nearly deserted. The attack was swift, violent, and meticulously planned. A bottle was hit to the head to stun the victim, then the robbery began: his cell phone and wallet, along with money and documents. This is the sequence of events in the robbery reported by a tourist attacked shortly before dawn on Corso Umberto I, in the heart of Naples.

The alarm was raised around 5 a.m., when a patrol car from the Dante police station responded to the emergency room at Pellegrini Hospital, where the injured man had just arrived.

The victim told police, as Il Mattino reported, that he was pulled over while walking along the Rettifilo. There were apparently at least two people in the car. They suddenly jumped into action, throwing a bottle at his head. The blow apparently stunned him, allowing them to quickly steal his cell phone and wallet.

The escape with phone and wallet

The raid lasted only a few moments. After carrying out the robbery, the commando fled in the same car, quickly disappearing.

The tourist was rescued and taken to Pellegrini Hospital. Fortunately, the consequences of the attack were not serious: after treatment, he was discharged with a seven-day prognosis.
However, the violence of the action remains, having occurred on one of the city center's main thoroughfares and at a time of day when the street traffic is still low.

Cameras under scrutiny

The police are leading the investigation. Investigators have already identified the area where the attack allegedly took place and are acquiring video surveillance footage along the route.

This step is considered crucial in trying to reconstruct the victim's last movements and, above all, identify the car used by the commando. The cameras could also provide useful evidence in reconstructing the tailing phase and subsequent escape.

The investigators' goal is to identify the perpetrators of the robbery and determine whether the car may have been used in other similar incidents.

Tourists still in the crosshairs

The attack on the Rettifilo is part of a series of incidents in recent months that have once again seen tourists and visitors end up in the sights of robbers in central Naples.

On August 11, police arrested two men on Via Marina, accused of robbing a tourist of her cell phone. According to the police, one of the men snatched the phone from the woman while his accomplice was riding a scooter. The two were apprehended after a chase and a struggle with officers.

In July, another particularly high-profile incident involved an American tourist. On June 6, on Via Nardones, two young men allegedly waited for the family to leave a restaurant before snatching a Patek Philippe Nautilus worth approximately €130 from the man's wrist. The tourist was dragged for several meters, sustaining injuries. The Carabinieri investigation, including surveillance video, led to the house arrest of two suspects.

Also in recent weeks, a twenty-year-old man was arrested by police in Via Acton for robbing a tourist: according to the prosecution, he threatened the victim with a knife to steal his cell phone.

The precedent on the same Rettifilo

Corso Umberto I has also been in the news several times for similar incidents. In January, a 43-year-old man was arrested by police after being caught stalking a woman and stealing two wallets from her backpack, violently pushing her as he fled.

Even more significant was an incident in January involving a German student on an Erasmus program. The 22-year-old was attacked one night on Corso Umberto: two men approached him and stole his wallet, containing just 30 euros. The young man was taken to Pellegrini Hospital and released with a ten-day prognosis.

And a few days before the current attack, on August 13th, another tourist, a 47-year-old woman from Bergamo, was found semi-conscious and with a head wound on Via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi. In that case, the Carabinieri hadn't ruled out the possibility of a robbery, but the circumstances remained unclear: a fall was one possibility. Footage from local security cameras was acquired to reconstruct the incident.

The Rettifilo incident is thus yet another one that once again shines a spotlight on street safety in the city center, and specifically on raids targeting tourists. This time, however, the attack appears even more brutal: not a swift robbery, but an attack preceded by a possible tailing and culminating in a bottle blow to the head.