Too much of the good life and bad behaviour can now get you banned from Rome

Police spotted telling tourists in the Italian capital to wear shoes and stop drinking beer on the street

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A police officer talks to a woman having an ice-cream by the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Photo: AP

Published: 2:42pm, 8 Jun 2019Updated: 9:16pm, 8 Jun 2019

Too much dolce vita can get you banned from Rome, where the mayor on Friday ushered in a permanent get-tough approach on boorish behaviour.

Exasperated by tourists who frolic in Rome’s public fountains, vandalise its monuments and treat its landmarks as their own personal living rooms, the city famous for its artistic heritage and easy-going lifestyle has had enough.

A man takes a selfie while drinking from the Bernini’s 17th-century Barcaccia fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome on Friday. Photo: AP

The Italian capital’s first populist mayor, Virginia Raggi, presented a law banning bad behaviour including eating, drinking or climbing on monuments, walking around partially undressed and wading through fountains – the latter temptation made famous by Anita Ekberg, who danced in the city’s magnificent Baroque Trevi Fountain in Federico Fellini’s classic film La Dolce Vita that immortalised Rome’s carefree spirit.

Tourists sit by the Trevi Fountain. Photo: AP

While many of the measures already existed in temporary form or were rarely enforced, a unanimous city council vote on Thursday night made them permanent. But there’s a new twist: disobeying the rules means local authorities can exile the badly behaved from the city’s historic centre for 48 hours.