For the past 300 years, the Spanish Steps in Rome have been loved by artists, poets and connoisseurs. They’ve provided the overarching backdrop for fashion shows and selfies, and featured in dozens of films, including “Roman Holiday” from 1953, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck .
And in the past week, they have continued to attract international attention, after a tourist knocked over their electric scooter, causing damage of 25,000 euros (about 27,000 USD).
At around 2:45 a.m. on June 3, two American tourists, a man and a woman, aged 29 and 28, were stopped by police after throwing a scooter down the Spanish Steps, according to a news release from local police. The couple has not been named.
The widely circulated video shows the woman shoving her scooter down the stairs while a handful of people watch. The man traveling with her was also seen dragging his scooter down the stairs.
The couple were each fined €400 (about $430), the statement said. Because the woman purposely pushed her scooter down the stairs, a more formal lawsuit was filed against her for damaging a monument. That Violations may be punished up to a year in prison or a fine of at least €2,000.
Franco Pasqualetti, a spokesman for Rome’s City Council, said that the two tourists were “absolutely intoxicated” the night of the incident and were banned from the site for six months after causing the damage.
The steps, one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions, were built in the 1720s and connect the Piazza di Spagna with the Piazza Trinità dei Monti. In 2016, they underwent a 10-month restoration, worth €1.5 million sponsored by Bulgari, the Italian luxury brand whose flagship store in Rome is located at the foot of the steps.
Three years ago, the new city rules give a penalty for sitting on the stepspart of a broader effort to preserve the character of Rome’s historic center.
The incident comes weeks after a man in Saudi Arabia drove his Maserati sports car down the steps, damaging at least two of them, according to police in Rome.
Mr. Pasqualetti said that incident was not an act of vandalism, but an accident. “Instead of turning right, he turned left and found himself on the stairs,” he said, “at which point he didn’t have time to brake and go down the stairs.”
Tourists have returned to Rome in droves, two years after Italy grim epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.
The The Italian authorities recently announced that tourists traveling to Italy will no longer be required to present proof of vaccinations, recent recovery or a negative test.
“I think the conditions exist for a summer without limits,” Andrea Costa, the health minister, said at the time.
Those who work at the city’s most iconic sites said in May that tourists filled the streets again, with at least one hotelier told The New York Times“It seems that no one is afraid of Covid anymore.”
