An senior citizen in Rome found himself in a sticky situation on Tuesday morning while attempting to drive over an iconic landmark. The man, 80, was driving his Mercedes sedan down Rome’s iconic Spanish Steps, a steep, 95-foot slope across from the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, when his car got stuck part way down. Police at the 300-year-old tourist attraction did not identify the man, but later said in a statement that he had been issued a citation at the scene after testing negative for alcohol. His car didn’t get off quite so easily: firefighters had to lift the vehicle off the steps using a crane. This is not the first time a rule-defying motorist has attempted to navigate the historic steps. In 2022, a 37-year-old man from Saudi Arabia was arrested and charged with aggravated damage to cultural heritage when he drove over the steps in a rented Maserati on his way home from a night of clubbing. The man later told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he simply “took a wrong turn.” Police have not yet revealed whether the Mercedes lifted from the steps Tuesday morning belonged to its elderly driver.
Read it at The Guardian
