Clueless tourist climbs into Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain to fill her water bottle
Tourists are continuing to disrespect Rome’s iconic monuments — as a woman was caught on video walking across the Trevi Fountain to fill her water bottle.
The clueless visitor is seen climbing across rocks to reach the center of the 18th-century fountain and using a spout to fill the bottle before a guard blows a whistle and confronts her, video shot last month by onlooker Lex Jones shows.
“There were signs all over saying that’s not allowed,” Jones told Storyful. “I was just like, ‘Wow, this is crazy,’ so I started videoing it.”
Jones said the woman, who wasn’t identified, didn’t seem to understand her faux pas or “why she was in trouble.”
It was unclear if she was detained or fined.
The Trevi Fountain — which was designed by Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762 — is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome and one of the most famous fountains in the world.
An estimated 1,200 people visit the fountain — where 20 million gallons of water flow daily — every hour, or about 10.5 million people a year.
The incident is the latest in which visitors to the Italian capital have been caught on video defacing and disrespecting its ancient landmarks.
In July, a 17-year-old Swiss girl carved her initials into a wall of the Colosseum.
“It is the first time I have managed to film an act of vandalism at the Colosseum but in six years I have seen dozens,” Italian tour guide David Battaglino, who captured her on video, told local media.
“There are also those who rip off parts of the wall. They even spat on me once for scolding a boy,” he said.
It was unclear if the teen faced legal consequences for her act. She could have faced up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to 15,000 euros — almost $17,000 — for damaging cultural property.
Her transgression came after Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian-born fitness trainer living in Bristol, England, also was caught on video defacing the famed amphitheater.
Dimitrov allegedly used a key to etch “Ivan + Hayley 23” into the 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site — and later offered a bizarre apology to Mayor Roberto Gualtieri in which he begged for forgiveness and claimed he did not know how old the Colosseum, completed by Emperor Titus in AD 80, was when he scrawled on it.
“It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument,” he wrote. “Through these lines, I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity.”
