Posted on 07/05/2023 8:20:18 AM PDT by Cronos
An English tourist accused of defacing the Colosseum has said he was not aware of the age of the ancient monument.
Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor living in Bristol, wrote a letter of apology to the Rome mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, after allegedly engraving his and his girlfriend’s names into an internal wall of the 2,000-year-old landmark with a key.
In the letter, Dimitrov, who was traced by Italian police to England after a five-day search, wrote that only now did he realise “the seriousness of the deed committed”.
“Through these lines I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity,” he added in the letter published in Il Messaggero on Wednesday.
Dimitrov, who faces a hefty fine and possible prison term, praised those who “guard the inestimable historical and artistic value of the Colosseum with dedication, care and sacrifice”, before adding: “It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
My guess too. It is cynical patronizing. The author made sure it hit all the check marks. It was so on the nose it was painful.
They should take better care of it.....................It needs a Reno, like really bad...............
I am just surprised he is not from the USA.
Seems like something one of those “ugly Americans” would do.
Exactly right. Its defacing and disrespecting property. A crime pretty much everywhere.
If the Italians allow this guy’s lame excuse to go unpunished shame on them.
But he was chewing gum on line.
Shoot him.
Boy is he strict!
That's what Gayle King said this morning on CBS. Instead it was some Ukrainian Russian guy who lives in England.
Throw him to the lions!
One of the memorable parts of the movie “Gallipoli” is when Archy and Frank (Mel Gibson) climb the pyramids and carve their name into the stones, alongside names from Napoleon’s Grand Armee in 1798
yeah that woulda been bad=- noone likes rustlers lol
Boy Howdy! I guess being stupid is, at least in his pea brain an excuse for permanently defacing an ancient irreplaceable monument.
It also says a lot about the the British education system. I guess they have devolved down to our level.
I think a fine that he could never repay, collectable in monthly instalments until his death and a permanent sign over his ‘signature’ telling the world that,
“Ivan Dimitrov , a British citizen did this in 2023”
just might be an appropriate punishment.
> “It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument.”
But he was OK with doing it to some other property. This is a person begging to be made an example - throw the book at him to help others say “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”.
“It didn’t look a day over 1900 years old!”
He knew exactly what he was doing - he just didn’t expect to be tracked down and held accountable.
I hope he does get prison - people are disgusting idiots. I studied in Greece and heard from everyone that one of the students in my class had sex in a graveyard.
Such disrespect. I wish whipping was one of the punishments. There would be less stupidity.
The girlfriend has nice fashion sense and color coordination.
You can test any Americans in the first year of university...most will suggest it was built in the past hundred years as a tourist ‘magnet’. Same group will tell you that they have no idea who won the Civil War or WW I.
The jackass looks pretty proud of himself in the picture.
While I realize that many people in the Selfie Generation are woefully uneducated, I find it hard to believe that he didn’t know the age of the Colosseum, or at least that it is considered ancient.
Reminds me of the folks that take selfies at Auschwitz.
He’s TOO STUPID to TRAVEL!!
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