The image of two young men surfing on electric boards on Venice’s Grand Canal went viral on Wednesday. Tourists and residents alike watched in amazement as the men bobbed and weaved between gondolas and vaporetti in the iconic lagoon city. One even barely avoided colliding with a water taxi.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who posted one of the videos, said: “Here are two imbecilic bullies snubbing their noses at the city. I urge everyone to help us identify them and punish them.
Our weapons are weak however, and mayors need more powers to enforce public safety.
I’ll offer a dinner to the person who identifies them”.
The pair were eventually caught by police “thanks to the analysis of CCTV footage” and information provided by residents, the mayor’s office said in a later statement.
The two surfers were fined 1,500 euros ($1,527) each, it said, while their surfboards, valued at a total of around 25,000 euros ($25,446), were also seized.
The mayor said the city of Venice had also asked lawyers to launch proceedings against the pair for damaging the image of the city. The Grand Canal is not just the city’s main thoroughfare, it’s also a recognized UNESCO heritage site and so protected from such dangerous abuses.
It was not immediately clear where the two surfers were from, but the mayor said they were foreign citizens.
