[KarlMalone]

Naked Tourists Are Ruining Italy

More than 50 tourists have been stopped by Italian officials for trespassing in fountains or committing other public nuisances in recent weeks. The offenses are not just obnoxious; they are expensive. In 2016, Italy’s already flabbergasted cultural ministry pushed for a law that would dramatically raise the fines for vandalism and public nuisances, such as having sex on park benches. Currently, public sex or extreme groping will set an amorous couple back about €50. Two Australians were caught and fined for doing just that on a public park bench in the center of Florence last year.
So far in 2017, three tourists have been arrested and fined €450 each for wading semi-nude in the Trevi Fountain. Two others had to pay €900 for using the Fountain of Two Seas on Rome’s Piazza Venezia as a footbath, and at least one has been arrested and hit with a bill of €10,000 for taking a leak on a cobblestone street in Genoa.
There’s also been a spate of “belfies,” or butt selfies, that have perplexed Roman street cops, who have had to actually sequester cellphones to prove public-nudity charges—since most belfie-takers are quick zipper-uppers. The fine for public stripping is around €200.