Tourist charged with damaging historic Florentine fountain in pre-wedding prank

Original article by Angela Giuffrida in Rome

A tourist has been charged after allegedly climbing a colossal marble statue in Florence to touch its genitals for a pre-wedding prank.

Experts said the woman caused thousands of euros of damage to the Neptune fountain in Piazza della Signoria.

Created by the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati, it was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1559 to celebrate the marriage of his son, Francesco I de’ Medici, to grand duchess Joanna of Austria. The basin encloses horses that pull a shell-shaped chariot at the base of a statue depicting Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.

The 28-year-old tourist, whose nationality has not been disclosed, was spotted by police and quickly removed from the monument. She told them her friends had dared her to touch Neptune’s genitals, according to a statement from Florence’s city council.

Experts from the council inspected the monument and found the prank had caused “minor but significant damage to both the legs of the horses she had walked on and to the frieze she held on to in order to avoid slipping”.

City officials put the cost of the damage at €5,000 (£4,340). Police charged the woman with defacing an artistic and architectural asset.

It is not the first time a tourist has tried to mount Neptune. CCTV cameras were introduced in 2005 after a visitor climbed the statue, breaking one of its hands and damaging the chariot. In 2023, a German tourist caused significant damage trying to climb the monument to take a selfie; that same summer, a young couple tried to scale a copy of Michelangelo’s David in Piazzale Michelangelo.

Despite stricter controls around Florence’s landmarks, rarely a summer goes by without similar incidents. According to Giorgio Caselli, who manages the city council’s fine arts office, it has become increasingly trendy for visitors to climb monuments for a “challenge”.

In 2024, a teenager hid in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore overnight before climbing up to its cupola for a selfie. Wearing a black hoodie, jeans and trainers, the teenager filmed himself walking up an inside stairwell of the world heritage site before reaching the dome level, stepping on to a small platform outside and taking a picture of himself and posting it on Instagram.

Caselli said visitors often lacked respect: “The physical contact that is sought with the monument is far from the objective, emotional and intellectual [awareness] that we expect and favour towards our monumental heritage. We must not allow ourselves any conscientious concessions to the ignorance and superficiality that characterise such actions.

“Our goal must be to awaken and cure the civic sense of those who frequent the city, which is not only to show respect toward others, but also towards monuments.”

Florence is one of Europe’s most-visited and overcrowded cities, attracting roughly 16 million tourists a year. “Florentines are protective of their heritage and look towards them [visitors] with suspicion,” added Caselli. “Perhaps because they don’t live in the city, they consider it more of a game.”