It seems that disrespecting Italian historical monuments has never been more trendy than this summer. As sad as it is, the latest episode sees a clueless American woman wading through the Trevi Fountain, in the heart of Rome, to refill her water bottle.
The visitor ignored the many notices posted around the historic late Baroque fountain, advising onlookers not to touch, climb or use it as a water source.
She managed to step over stones and laboriously climb the wall where the water gushes out to fill up her water bottle. As soon as she got out of the water, acting as if it was normal, she was stopped by a guard. But she wasn’t fined or arrested.
What she accessed was the end point of the Acqua Virgo aqueduct, providing fresh, clean drinking water to the residents of ancient Rome. Today, the fountain still spills out approximately 80,000 cubic metres of water each day. But what this woman did not realize is that today it is recycled water good only for display and it is not drinkable.
This is already the third episode since the beginning of the summer season. All Romans, and Italians too, are fed up with this situation.
At the end of June a 27-year-old British gym instructor, visiting Rome with his girlfriend, scrawled their names on the Colosseum wall. He apologized with a letter to Roberto Gualtieri, the Mayor of Rome, writing that he was unaware of the monument’s history. A 17-year-old Swiss girl who carved her initials into one of the brick columns of the 1,937-year-old building in mid-July did the same. It is still unclear if the teen faced legal consequences for her act. She could have faced up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to 15,000 euros — almost $17,000 — for damaging cultural property.
The woman in this latest episode claims she was unaware that she was violating any rules. This would be difficult to believe given that climbing into the fountain to access the gushing water is so difficult. In addition to the fact that people around her were visibly shocked at her actions and started warning her and then filming her antics.
