An American man who videotaped a tourist defacing the ancient Colosseum in Rome, Italty, said he was “stunned” to see the vandalism unfold in real time.
The message, “Ivan+Haley 23,” was carved into a wall inside the Colosseum in an incident filmed by fellow tourist Ryan Lutz, of Orange, California, whose video went viral on social media and was ultimately picked up by Italian officials.
Lutz, who posted the video on YouTube and Reddit, told The Associated Press he was “dumbfounded” that the tourist would deface the well-known monument.
Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano described the carving as “serious, undignified and a sign of great incivility that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world, the Colosseum, to engrave the name of his fiancée.”
According to Italian news agency ANSA, this was the fourth time this year that graffiti was reported at the Colosseum. The suspect in the latest incident could face $15,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.
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California resident Ryan Lutz had just finished a guided tour of the famed Colosseum when he noticed another tourist carving his name into the wall. (AP)
Lutz, who is on a two-month backpacking trip through Europe, had just finished a guided tour of the Colosseum on Friday when he witnessed the man “blatantly carving his name” into the wall – an incident that was so shocking to him that he began recording.
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In 2014, a Russian tourist was hit with a fine of 20,000 euros, or $25,000, and received a four-year suspended jail sentence for engraving a big letter ‘K’ on a wall of the Colosseum.
Two American tourists were cited the following year for aggravated damage after they carved their names in the monument.