Italy: Rome sees return of tourists frolicking at famed fountains

Rome: Rome has seen a flurry of headlines in recent weeks about foreign tourists disrespecting the city’s cultural heritage, from crashing drones into landmark buildings to jumping into historic fountains.

The latest incident occurred on Friday afternoon when police caught a tourist in the waters of Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona.

In addition to receiving a fine, which can be up to €450, the tourist was handed a ‘daspo’ temporary ban from the area, reports Rome online newspaper RomaToday.

Also last week a man was filmed taking a midday dip in Bernini’s Fountain of Triton in Piazza Barberini, without being caught by police, and two Dutch tourists were fined after getting into the Trevi Fountain.

Two weeks ago another incident made the news in Rome when a young female tourist – American according to some reports – stripped off and walked around Piazza Testaccio, sunbathing naked before cooling off in the Fontana delle Anfore. It is not clear whether the police intervened in this case.

The capital has not seen such a spate of fountain-related offences since before the covid pandemic when the then mayor Virginia Raggi lashed out against the “unacceptable” behaviour of “barbarian tourists” in 2019, warning: “Our monuments must be respected and Rome’s historic fountains are not swimming pools.”