BANGED UP ABROAD

Idiotic Tourist Breaks Part of a 16th-Century Statue in Italy

The 22-year-old man climbed the Fountain of Neptune in Florence early Monday morning.

Another day, another tourist behaving badly in Italy. A 22-year-old German man was taken into custody on Monday after allegedly damaging a 16th-century monument at the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The statue depicts the Roman god Neptune driving a sea carriage being pulled by horses. According to cops, the man climbed over a barrier placed around the statue to get a selfie. On his way down, he set his foot on the marble hoof of one of the horses, causing it to break off. An alarm immediately sounded, and the man quickly fled but he was later captured. City authorities claim that repairs will cost around $5,400. Florence Mayor Dario Nardella posted video captured by CCTV cameras of the man to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. If convicted, he could be handed a significant fine and prohibited from ever returning to the city. Recently, tourists have been busted climbing Rome’s Trevi Fountain to fill a water bottle, etching their name into the Colosseum, and defacing a 460-year-old historic passageway.