The man decided to try on the role of James Bond and went down in a luxurious Maserati sports car on the famous Spanish Steps in Rome. Now, a 37-year-old foreign tourist has been charged with aggravated damage to the city's cultural heritage and monuments.
According to Newsweek, the actions of a tourist who arrived from Saudi Arabia were caught on CCTV at the moment when one from the May nights, he decided to drive down the Spanish Steps in a rented car, which are recognized as a cultural monument and are officially called the Stairway to the Temple of Trinita dei Monti.
Stopping halfway, as if thinking about his actions and his chosen route, the tourist got out of the car with a flashlight to take a closer look at the surroundings. Soon he returned behind the wheel and headed down the stairs, as he had originally planned, and then fled the scene. According to the newspaper, he rented a car in Milan and then went to Rome. His illegal maneuver interested law enforcement officers, as the man caused material damage to the cultural monument.
According to CNN, a statement from Rome's heritage authority said the car caused the destruction of the 16th and 29th steps of the right march rising from Piazza di Spagna. In addition, it was reported that the designers resorted to urgent measures: temporarily glued some fragments of marble to the steps “in order to ensure the immediate opening of the stairs for pedestrians.”
The statement also said that cultural heritage specialists are calculating the economic damage from the accident, given that they also found “widespread chips, scratches, abrasions and deposits on both level two ramps associated with the same event.”
After the incident, a few more days passed before the man returned the car to the rental office in Milan's Malpensa airport. It also turned out that a luxurious sports car received some damage – this was the decisive factor in the detention of a tourist.
Now the Saudi traveler is charged with causing damage to cultural heritage and a monument under aggravating circumstances. He will have to pay a hefty fine to repair the steps and the sports car.
The Spanish Steps, the main staircase in the center of Rome, is considered the most beautiful in Europe. Its stairs lead the tourist from the top of the Pincio hill, from the church of Trinita dei Monti located there, to the Spanish Square. It is one of the most famous structures of the late Roman Baroque. Built in 1721-1725.
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