Rome’s ancient Colosseum is one of the world’s oldest and grandest historic monuments, a symbol of Italy’s legacy and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recently, an insensitive tourist marred this incredible site for the sake of a photo op, creating an outcry from locals and leaders in Italy.
An English-speaking man recently filmed another tourist, allegedly named ‘Ivan’, scratching the names ‘Ivan + Hayley 23’ into one of the Colosseum’s stone walls. The man likely intended to commemorate his visit with the date etched into the wall. The video quickly went viral on Reddit with the caption ‘A******e tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome’, garnering over 17,000 upvotes.
Since then, Italians have expressed their fury at the desecration. Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s Minister of Culture, said: “I consider it very serious, unworthy and a sign of great incivility that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world, a historical heritage such as the Colosseum, to engrave the name of his fiancée.”
He isn’t the only tourist to have vandalized the Colosseum in recent years. In 2020, an Irish tourist was arrested for allegedly carving his initials into the wall, prompting police to impose a fine of over GBP£17,000 (€2,065) and possibly a jail sentence up to a year. Meanwhile, two American tourists were arrested in 2015 for engraving their initials into the structure and two Brazilian visitors were caught when a venture to climb the walls resulted in a fall and injury.
It appears that the Colosseum continues to be vulnerable to misuse by tourists. “We worry that this could become a game and people could start competing over it”, said Francesco Prosperetti, Special Superintendent for the Colosseum. Archaeologist Federica Rinaldi warned that this kind of vandalism is an attempt to ‘appropriate’ the sacred site, adding “The Colosseum, like any monument that represents the history of all of us, must be preserved and handed over to future generations.”
This wasn’t the only recent cultural faux pas by tourists in Rome. In 2018, two British men stripped and posed for photos in a fountain at one of Rome’s most famous monuments, the Altare della Patria. Ironically, the monument was built to honor war dead, yet these two British visitors chose to shame Italy’s historic sites by engaging in lewd and inappropriate behavior.
When it comes to the Colosseum, it’s important for visitors to understand the significance of the site and show respect. We must always remember that the Colosseum and other ancient monuments are reminders of the long history of the world, and the privilege of being able to witness them is a gift, not an opportunity to create eternity’s worth of damage. Italy’s legacy deserves to be cherished and admired – not defaced, desecrated, or vandalized.
