Tourist’s lewd behaviour with statue sparks outrage in Italy

A woman's actions on a famed statue of a Roman god has sparked outrage in Italy. Photo / 123rf

A woman has outraged the people of Italy after she performed lewd acts on a statue of a Roman god in Florence.

Photos of the incident have been shared widely on social media after they were posted on the popular Instagram account @welcome_to_florence on Wednesday.

In the first photo of the two, an unidentified tourist appears to be straddling a statue of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, and kissing it. In the second, she seems to imitate a sex act.

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The bronze statue is located in the Borgo San Jacopo area, close to the famed Ponte Vecchio bridge. The original 16th-century work by Giambologna resides in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello.

The images provoked over 900 comments on the post, many expressing fury and calling for legal action.

“If I s*** on the lap of the Lincoln Memorial statue, they’d give me the electric chair,” one person commented.

“This is the result of years of trying to turn Florence into Disney World,” wrote another.

Superintendent Antonella Rinaldi told the BBC: “Tourists are welcome here but they need to respect our artworks, be they originals or replicas”.

She added: “Although I doubt this lady - whom I condemn - even knows the difference”.

The incident is the latest in a long line of tourists’ bad behaviour in Europe - and locals are getting fed up.

Two weeks ago, Barcelona locals sprayed travellers with water guns and trapped them inside restaurants while chanting “tourists go home”.

On July 9, Barcelona’s mayor Jaume Collboni reiterated several measures were under way to reduce mass tourism’s impact on the city.

In July 2022, Italy announced a series of actions they wanted tourists to stop doing - or face fines. For example, sitting on Rome’s Spanish Steps could cost you a fine of €400 ($719).