The woman and a man, aged 29, were filmed on the steps by a passerby, with the footage going viral after being published by several Italian news sites.
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Perspective is architect of perception AN American tourist who caused more than £20,000 worth of damage to Rome’s iconic Spanish Steps when she threw an e-scooter down them has been fined just £430.
The unnamed woman, 28, and her male companion were filmed on the famous marble stairway at around 3.45am on Friday morning.
A US tourist was filmed throwing her e-scooter down Rome’s iconic Spanish Steps[/caption]
The woman caused more than £20k worth of damage to the Unesco monument[/caption]
The Spanish Steps are one of Rome’s most iconic sites[/caption]
In the footage, the woman, who Italian authorities said was a US tourist, hurls the rented e-scooter down the steps in an apparent tantrum.
She then reportedly hurled the scooter twice more after the clip ends “just for fun,” according to Italian news outlet La Repubblica.
It wrote: “The woman threw [the e-scooter] down the steps three times, just for fun.”
The e-scooter struck several of the marble steps causing cracks which will cost more than £20,000 to repair.
Rome‘s historic Spanish Steps, which get their name from the Spanish Embassy at the top of them, have recently undergone a mammoth £1.2m restoration funded by high-end jewellery company Bvlgari.
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The woman and a man, aged 29, were filmed on the steps by a passerby, with the footage going viral after being published by several Italian news sites.
Cops eventually tracked down the pair – both said to be American – slapping them both with fines of just 500 euros (£430).
The two were reportedly located using security camera footage from the scene. Police have not released either of the tourists’ names.
They were also given a lifetime ban from returning to the famous monument, which features in the 1953 Hollywood classic Roman Holiday featuring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
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Cops confiscated their e-scooters and allowed them to return to their hotel, Corriere Della Serra reported.
The Spanish Steps are one of Rome’s most famous tourist sites – as well as the most protected.
Built by architect Francesco de Sanctis between 1723 and 1726, the steps underwent a huge restoration project in 2015, prompting officials to put new protections in place on the site.
Police banned people from sitting on them in 2018 to try and protect the 18th-century Unesco World Heritage Site.
The consumption of food and drink near the curved stairwell is also forbidden.
The woman threw [the e-scooter] down the steps three times, just for fun
La Repubblica
This is just the latest instance of “badly-behaved tourists” in Italy in recent months as visitor numbers have returned to pre-Covid levels.
Last month, a 37-year-old Saudi businessman was caught driving a Maserati down the Spanish Steps after “taking a wrong turn”.
The tourist told Italian press: “Yes, it was me who drove the car down the Spanish Steps. But I just took a wrong turn.”
He said he had been on his way home from a nightclub with a Romanian woman he had me that night when he drove down the steps before trying to reverse back up them.
The man said he didn’t think the incident was “so serious” until he was arrested at Milan airport by Italian authorities, blaming the incident on his GPS system.
He was charged an unknown sum for damaging the monument, agreeing to pay for its repair.
In April, two Dutch tourists were fined more than £800 for getting into Rome’s Trevi fountain.
And in May, a 39-year-old Argentinian accidentally flew a drone into the roof of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Meanwhile, in Venice, police have accused tourists of sparking “signs of urban degradation,” as they vowed to clamp down on obnoxious visitors.
Among those slapped with fines include a French tourist caught using a stand-up paddleboard on the Grand Canal, and two German women who sunbathed in bikinis by the famous Stan Stae church.
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Italian authorities are yet to comment further on Friday’s incident.
Do you recognise the woman in the video? Email anthony.blair@thesun.co.uk
Recently, two tourists were fined for jumping in Rome’s Trevi fountain[/caption]
An Argentinian tourist accidentally flew a drone into the Leaning Tower of Pisa[/caption]
Category: News, World News, Police, Tourism
