‘Idiotic’ tourist detained for carving name into ancient Pompeii wall
A tourist was detained in Italy over the weekend when he was caught carving his name into a wall in the ancient city of Pompeii — and he’s been ordered to pay for its restoration, officials said.
The tourist from Kazakh was arrested at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii on Saturday when security noticed him scraping the letters “ALI” into the plaster wall of the House of the Ceii, the Kazakh news agency Kazinform reported.
The incident was reported to the local police, or carabinieri, who took the man into custody.
The tourist was released after “completing all the necessary formalities,” but he will have to compensate the park for the damages, the Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The case will be resolved through the administrative process, which means the man will not face criminal charges, Kazinform added.
The House of the Ceii is an ancient villa thought to have belonged to the magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus, according to the Pompeii website.
It is one of the best-known structures in the city, which was preserved under ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.
“Unfortunately, even today, we find ourselves commenting on an uncivilized and idiotic disgrace caused to our artistic and cultural heritage,” Italy’s Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, said of the tourist’s arrest in a statement.
“This is a very serious act that will have to be prosecuted severely and, also thanks to the new law that I strongly supported, the perpetrator will be forced to repay the costs of fully restoring the damage caused,” he added.
“I thank the workers of MiC and Ales for promptly intervening and the Carabinieri who immediately stopped the tourist responsible for this vile gesture.”
The Kazakh tourist’s arrest came less than a month after a young man from the Netherlands was lambasted for allegedly vandalizing a wall in Herculaneum, which was also covered in ash from Mount Vesuvius.
Last year, Ivan Dimitrov, a fitness coach from the UK, made global headlines when he was caught on camera carving “Ivan + Hayley ‘23” into the Colosseum in Rome.
Dimitrov later apologized for the gaffe – and claimed he had no idea how old the Colosseum was until it was too late.
