American Tourists Fined for Damaging Rome’s Spanish Steps with E-Scooter

The tourists reportedly caused about $27,000 in damage to the historic site

The Spanish Steps looking up in early morning light before the crowds arrive.

Two U.S. tourists visiting Rome, Italy, were fined for causing damage to the city’s Spanish Steps.

Video owned by the Polizia Roma Capitale shows one woman and her male friend, ages 28 and 29, dragging their e-scooters down the steps during their visit to Rome’s historic city center on June 3, landing the travelers in trouble with the local authorities, according to The New York Times.

The publication reports that the visitors were fined €400 (approximately $430) and were banned from further visiting Rome’s historic city center for six months. The duo remains unnamed.

A random passerby recorded the incident, showing the woman throwing her e-scooter down the steps, per The Guardian.

A formal complaint was also filed against the woman for damaging a monument property — an offense punishable by up to one year in jail or approximately $2100 (€2000) — according to the New York Times.

The incident caused €25,000 (approximately $27,000) in damages, The Guardian reports.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Polizia Roma Capitale and is awaiting response.

According to CNN, police say the two were stopped at 2:45 a.m. local time last Friday morning.

“A couple of American tourists launched a scooter three times down the steps of Trinità dei Monti, damaging the third-to-last travertine step of the second ramp on the side towards the climb of San Sebastianello,” the city’s Capitoline Superintedency cultural heritage office said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

The city of Rome banned people from sitting on the historic steps in 2019 — one of several rules that were created to “guarantee decorum.”

Built in the 1700s, the steps — which connect the Trinità dei Monti church at the top with the Piazza di Spagna below — underwent a renovation in 2015 in a €1.5 million effort funded by the luxury brand Bulgari, The Guardian previously reported.

Other restrictions under the city’s rules include “messy eating” on monuments and tossing objects or climbing into several historic fountains — though tossing coins into the Trevi Fountain is still allowed, according to the city’s website. Failure to adhere to the laws could result in an approximate $450 (€400) fine.

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