The desire to taste dessert at the foot of a historical monument in Italy turned into a fine of 450 euros for a foreign tourist. We are talking about the famous Fontana di Catechumeni, dating from 1589 and located in the area of the small picturesque square of Piazza Della Madonna Dei Monti in the Monti district of Rome.
The 55-year-old man, who, in addition to the ice cream, also had a beer in his hand, was reprimanded by the police early last Saturday morning, Italian media reported. Built by Battista Rusconi, the fountain is a popular place for tourists to hang out at night, but on Friday it was covered with tape so that no one could get close to it and sit on the steps. However, at around one o’clock in the morning, the tourist decided to sit in a prohibited place and did not move even when the police warned him of a fine.
The tourist said he didn’t know he was violating a city council-approved ban on eating and drinking near Rome’s fountains, part of a slew of rules enacted by then-Mayor Virginia Raggi in 2017. It should be noted that with her measures she tried to fight for the aesthetics of tourism and the restoration of decency in the Italian capital.
It will be recalled that the new measures of influence were introduced following the decree, first developed in 1946, which included a ban on dragging suitcases on wheels and strollers up historic stairs, walking bare-chested in public places, and bathing in fountains. Restrictions affected even the Roman custom of hanging laundry on lines for drying between neighboring houses.
In addition, since 2018, tourists and residents are prohibited from sitting on Italy’s most famous landmark, the Spanish Steps in Rome. However, whether out of ignorance or as a challenge to norms, tourists regularly break almost all cultural laws. So, in June, an American traveler was fined for throwing an electric scooter into a UNESCO World Heritage site, causing €25,000 in damage, and two weeks earlier, a visitor from Saudi Arabia drove a Maserati down the stairs.