News from Italy
Rome burns those who touch it: Fine 450 Euros
Vita gazette – In Rome, the open-air museum of the world, high fines are imposed on those who disrespect historical and cultural monuments. Most recently, an American tourist had to pay a fine of 450 Euros for eating and drinking beer on the steps of a historic fountain.
Rome is a city visited by millions of tourists every year. It draws its charm from its historical texture, which it still preserves, and from works of art embroidered like lace. Despite this, there are also “uneducated and disrespectful” people among those who visit the world heritage city. In recent years, new punishment systems have been introduced one after another due to the increase in the number of people who bathe in historical pools, drop their luggage on the Spanish steps, eat on the steps of the pools, drink wine and beer, and then leave all their waste on the stairs. And eating, drinking and sitting on monuments that are historical monuments and need to be protected are completely prohibited. It was announced that those who do not comply with this ban will be fined 450 Euros.
Despite the constant warnings and fines by the police around such monumental structures, the most recent example of this was the monumental Cetchumens Fountain, one of the symbols of the city. An adult American tourist was fined 450 euros for sitting, eating and drinking beer by the landmark fountain designed by Giacomo Della Porta in Piazza della Madonna dei Monti.
In just two days, including that day, the police detected 60 irregularities. They intervened in this historical monument to protect the heritage and honor of the city.
Basically, it must also be said that not only the area in which he was located is surrounded by places in which to sit and consume food and drinks, but that the fountain used as a bench by the fined subject, is nothing more than a masterpiece in travertine made in 1589 by Battista Rusconi to a design by Giacomo Della Porta, a precious symbol of the Rione Monti and absolutely to be preserved.
The fountain also represents history from another point of view, belonging to the water supply plan of the areas of the Viminale and Quirinale hills, then poorly served, and which took place with the construction of a certain number of fountains, once completed in 1587 the restoration and restoration of the ancient Alexandrian aqueduct, since then called “Acqua Felice” from the name of Pope Sixtus V, born Felice Peretti, under whose pontificate the work was completed.
The fountain is a masterpiece consisting of an octagonal travertine basin bordered by four alternating coats of arms. The basin rests on the same four octagonal steps, which also act as the horizontal plane of the square sloping towards the church. In the center, a railing rises from another basin which supports a circular basin in which there is a vase from which water flows. From the mouth of the four masks placed under the lower chamber, the water falls into the octagonal chamber.
Last month, an adult British tourist was caught dipping his feet in the famous Barcaccia fountain, located near the famous stairs of Trinità dei Monti, rising in Spain Square and paid a fine of 500 euros. Earlier, another tourist descended the Spanish steps on an electric scooter, causing damage of about a thousand euros. Just two weeks ago, a Saudi Arabian tourist had come down the stairs in his Maserati.
These cases are made up of those reflected in the press. But when we look around the historical buildings in the center of the city, it is seen that there are people who come to Rome to go on a historical journey, who behave incompatible with their purpose. Could the definitive solution be to add 2-3 zeros to the existing fines?
