A tourist has been busted carving his name on a wall in Italy’s ancient city of Pompeii.
The man was stopped while engraving the letters ‘ALI’ in the House of the Ceii, an ancient villa that probably belonged to the magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus.
The preserved city in southeast of Naples, at the base of Mount Vesuvius, is one of the most significant proofs of Roman civilisation.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most popular tourist spots in Italy, attracting more than 2.5 million visitors every year.
As such, this latest act of vandalism on light plaster has caused a lot of outrage.
The man has so far been identified as a tourist from Kazakhstan, but he is yet to be named.
He was stopped on Saturday by security and reception staff while scribbling his name.
The Italian authorities have said he will be made to pay for restoration work to be carried out on the wall to remove the graffiti.
The exact cost of the damage is yet to be determined while an investigation into what happened is ongoing.
What happened to the tourist who carved his name Into Rome’s Colosseum?
A tourist went viral in June 2023 after being caught on camera carving names into the wall of the Colosseum.
The clip sparked outrage on social media, drawing criticism from Italy’s culture and tourism ministries.
Authorities set about hunting the perpetrator, and quickly identified him as Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor living in Bristol.
The accused wrote a letter of apology to Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualteri, after allegedly carving his and his girlfriend’s names into the almost 2,000-year-old landmark with a key.
Mr Dimitrov said he was unaware of how old the iconic Unesco World Heritage site was.
It was last reported in July 2023 that Mr Dimitrov faced legal proceedings.
The park director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, described this as an ‘uncivilised’ act, adding: ‘Thanks to the new law supported by Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, the perpetrator of the crime will have to pay for the restoration of the wall.
‘Well done to the ministry collaborators and the Ales company who promptly intervened. Excellent collaboration with the police, who we thank for their promptness.’
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement: ‘In Italy, our citizen was detained for illegally writing an inscription on a historical building.
‘After completing all the necessary formalities with law enforcement agencies, he was released.’
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