Tourists in Italy face ‘fascist-style’ fines for unruly behaviour such as sitting on steps, eating messily
- The measures were among a raft of rules reinforced by authorities in early June, with fines of up to 250 euros for sitting down and 400 euros for making a mess
- Walking around bare-chested, jumping into fountains and dragging wheeled suitcases down historic staircases are also banned
Authorities in Rome have been accused of applying “fascist-style” measures after police began shooing resting tourists away from the staircase of the famous Spanish Steps.
Police began patrolling the 18th-century marble steps on Tuesday, blowing whistles at those sitting down. The monument, a Unesco World Heritage Site, has long been the ideal resting spot for tired visitors and holds a special allure at sunset. But now visitors face being fined up to 400 euros (US$450) as part of Rome’s continued crackdown on “unruly” tourists.
“Protecting a monument is fine, and obviously you shouldn’t eat on the steps, but the ban on sitting down is really excessive,” Vittorio Sgarbi, a controversial art critic and former deputy minister of culture, told AdnKronos news agency. “It seems to me to be a fascist-style provision that the municipality will be forced to review.”
People could be fined 250 euros simply for sitting down on one of the 136 steps which lead up to the Trinità dei Monti church, and up to 400 euros for dirtying or damaging the steps in their wake.
The measure is among a raft of rules reinforced by the authorities in early June, including a ban on “messy eating” by monuments, wandering around bare-chested, jumping into fountains, and dragging wheeled suitcases and strollers down historic staircases.
“We agree that people shouldn’t ‘camp out’ and eat on the steps of monuments, as rubbish gets left behind,” said Tommaso Tanzilli, a director at the Rome unit of Federalberghi, the Italian hotels association. “But criminalising people for sitting down, especially if they are elderly, is a little exaggerated.”