Residents of Florence were left outraged after a tourist pretended to have sex with a treasured statue of Bacchus.
The blonde tourist, whose nationality is still unknown, climbed onto a prized statue of Bacchus by Giambologna in the Borgo San Jacopo area of Florence and pretended to kiss the bronze man.
The smiling woman, dressed in denim shorts and a black T-shirt, was also standing in front of the sculpture as she read while her friend took photos.
The second woman, wearing black shorts and a white T-shirt, was photographed kneeling in front of the statue, apparently imitating a sexual act.
Now the authorities have demanded a harsh crackdown on disrespectful tourists like the women portrayed with the bronze Bacchus.
The blonde tourist, whose nationality is not yet known, climbed onto a replica of Giambologna’s statue of Bacchus in Florence’s Borgo San Jacopo area and pretended to kiss the bronze man.
The smiling woman, wearing denim shorts and a black T-shirt, was also standing in front of the sculpture as she read while her friend took photos.
An outraged resident had posted images of the tourists on a local Facebook group, writing: “Here’s to respect for Florence,” as she criticised tourism in the Italian city. She added an emoji above the image of the tourist kneeling in front of the statue (pictured above).
“Florence is a city that does not earn the respect of visitors. These constant displays of rudeness and incivility occur because everyone feels entitled to do whatever they want with impunity,” says Patrizia Asproni of Confcultura, an organisation dedicated to cultural heritage.
He urged: “We need to apply the “Singapore model”: strict controls, very high fines, zero tolerance.”
Police chief Antonella Ranaldi said: “Tourists are welcome, but our monuments must be respected, whether they are originals or copies. Also because I doubt that this lady, who is to blame for me, knows the difference.”
Marco Passeri, a former Florence councillor, asked: “Are we sure we need this kind of tourists in Florence?”
One outraged resident had posted images of the tourists on a local Facebook group, writing: “Here’s to respect for Florence,” as he criticised tourism in the Italian city.
For the image of one of the tourists kneeling in front of the statue, he added an emoji on top, apparently to hide the sexual act the woman was imitating.
The images quickly went viral in Italy, with one resident writing online: “We should force tourists to take a test in Florence before they can set foot in the city.”
Others have called for the tourists to go to prison for the “sexual” photo shoot with the statue.
The statue depicting the woman is a replica of the original bronze Bacchus, created by Giambologna in the 1560s and housed in the Bargello Museum.
It was replaced by the replica in 2006 and stands on top of an ancient original marble fountain called ‘del Centauro’, which tourists had to climb to reach the statue.
This comes after similar incidents in Italy involving tourists who had disrespected monuments. Last month, a tourist was caught carving his name into an ancient wall in Pompeii.
The anonymous vandal was arrested while carving “Ali” in clear plaster at the Casa de los Ceii (pictured)
The entrance to the ancient villa, which is a popular spot for tourists visiting the site.
The photograph shows murals in the ancient Casa dei Ceii in Pompeii, Italy.
The man, who is from Kazakhstan, was reportedly caught red-handed damaging one of the city walls, which lies beneath Mount Vesuvius and was buried by the volcano’s eruption in 79 AD.
The anonymous vandal was arrested while carving ‘Ali’ in light plaster at the House of the Ceii, an ancient villa that probably belonged to the magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus.
Italian authorities said the man will have to pay for restoration work to be carried out on the wall to remove the graffiti after he was reported to police.
The park’s director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said: “It is an uncivilised act. 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.”
“Congratulations to the ministry’s collaborators and to the Ales company who intervened quickly. Excellent collaboration with the police, whom we thank for their promptness.”
The Pompeii Archaeological Park states on its website that the House of the Ceii is “one of the rare examples of ancient dwellings from the late Samnite period (2nd century BC).”
They also say: ‘Upon entering the house you can see the impluvium bath which is made with fragments of amphorae placed on their edges, a common technique used in Greece and attested in Pompeii also in the Ancient Hunting House.
‘The back wall of the small garden is decorated with wild animals, a very successful theme in the decoration of open spaces.
‘The side walls depict Egyptian-style landscapes with animals from the Nile Delta, which probably indicated a link between the owner of the house and the cult of Isis, which was widespread in Pompeii in the last years of the city’s life.’
Locals were left stunned by the disrespectful behaviour of tourists who defaced the corridor connecting the prized Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace.
A passerby filmed Dimitrov, a fitness instructor from Bristol, carving names into the stone walls of the 1,937-year-old building using a set of keys on June 23.
As peak season approaches, Italian authorities will be keeping a close eye on the country’s iconic landmarks after a series of senseless attacks on Italy’s beloved historic sites last summer.
In the town of Herculaneum, which was also covered in volcanic ash when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, a tourist from the Netherlands was reprimanded for “signing” an ancient wall.
Then, in August, two German tourists were arrested for covering a historic monument in Florence with football graffiti.
The men are said to have used black spray paint to write ‘DKS 1860’ on the 460-year-old columns of Florence’s iconic Vasari Corridor.
The corridor connects the prized Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace and was originally built for the powerful Medici family.
And in a now-famous shocking incident, a Bulgarian-born, Bristol-based fitness instructor was filmed smiling as he smashed through the wall of the Colosseum.
Ivan Dimitrov, 27, was on holiday in Rome with his girlfriend Hayley Bracey, 33, when he was caught carving the words ‘Ivan and Hayley 23’ into the brickwork with a set of keys.
