An “imbecile” tourist damaged the famous Fountain of Neptune in Florence this weekend when he climbed on it to take a selfie and broke off a piece of marble from the 16th-century site, officials said.
Security footage caught the 22-year-old German man trying to scale the iconic monument’s chariot to pose for a picture and breaking the piece of marble, Florence’s Mayor Dario Nardella said in a post on X while sharing a blurred-out image of the delinquent visitor.
“There is no justification against vandalism of cultural heritage,” the mayor said on Monday.
The man also damaged the horse’s hoof on his way back down, according to Deutsche Welle, the German state-owned broadcaster.
He caused about €5,000 ($5,400) in damage to the fountain and faces a hefty fine, officials said.
The Fountain of Neptune, which was restored in 2018, has been standing in the Piazza della Signoria since 1574.
The tourist caused over $5,000 in damage and will pay a “hefty fine,” the city’s mayor said. DarioNardella/TwitterThe iconic sculpture took 10 years to complete, and was commissioned during the reign of Cosimo I de’Medici, who had dreams of turning Florence into a naval superpower.
The statue’s unveiling also coincided with the completion of the city’s new water system and aqueduct.
Tommaso Muccini, the fine arts architect at the Palazzo Vecchio, told Florence newspaper La Nazione that security cameras caught the “imbecile” as the tourist jumped down from the precious statue.
The statue has been an iconic fixture in Florence since it was constructed in 1574. Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesThe damage will be repaired during scheduled maintenance of the monument in October, he said.
The incident comes as a wave of tourists have recently been arrested for vandalizing various historic attractions in Italy.
Earlier this summer, two tourists were caught carving their names into the iconic Roman Colosseum, and two others were busted for spray-painting slogans for a Munich soccer team on the Vasari Corridor, which connects to the city’s famous Uffizi Galleries.
Under Italian law, acts of vandalism can be prosecuted under “aggravated damage,” which carries a maximum sentence of three years. DarioNardella/TwitterThe graffiti attack late last month caused $10,800 in damages, Italy’s Carabinieri military police said.
In July, a 17-year-old Swiss girl was recorded carving the letter “N” into one of the landmark’s walls, just a month after Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian-born fitness trainer, was arrested carving his and his fiancee’s names in the monument.
Under Italian law, acts of vandalism can be prosecuted under “aggravated damage,” which carries a maximum sentence of three years.
