Police say a tourist from Berlin climbed the 16th-century monument in central Florence, inflicting damages estimated at €5,000
ADVERTISEMENTA young German tourist damaged Florence’s famous Fountain of Neptune when he climbed onto it overnight on Sunday to take a photograph.
The 22-year-old man broke off a piece of marble when he clambered onto the statue’s chariot and damaged a horse’s hoof on the way back down.
In surveillance footage, he can be seen crossing the water before climbing the work of art to pose for the picture before running off.
He was identified using the images from the municipal cameras and located a few hours later by local police.
It’s believed he caused about €5,000 in damage to the historic monument, which was completely restored in 2018. He now faces a heavy fine.
The Fountain of Neptune, commissioned in 1559, commemorates the marriage of a member of the House of Medici to the Grand Duchess of Austria.
This is not the first incident of vandalism of Italy’s historical attractions this summer.
In August, German tourists graffitied the exterior of the Vasari Corridor, a passage linking the Uffizi Galleries with the Boboli Gardens, also in Florence.
And in June, another visitor scratched his and his girlfriend's name with a key on an internal wall of the 2000-year-old Colosseum in Rome.
