() – Italian authorities are trying to identify a young woman who was recorded kissing, touching and rubbing against a statue of Bacchus, god of wine and sensuality, in Florence over the weekend.
The country’s Culture Ministry and Florence authorities expressed fury over the incident after images went viral on social media, with the Florence mayor’s office calling it an act that “imitated sex.”
The Mayor of Florence said the tourist had not yet been identified and suggested she was “presumably intoxicated.”
Authorities stated that if she were identified, she would be fined and could be banned from entering the city for life, in accordance with an ordinance that prohibits any type of abuse of the country’s cultural heritage.
The statue is a replica of the original created in the 16th century by the sculptor Giambologna, influenced by Hellenistic sculpture and the works of Michelangelo, who settled in Florence in 1552.
His original Bacchus is preserved in the Bargello Museum, in the center of Florence. The replica is located in a corner near the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
The act has sparked very diverse reactions on social media platform X: from indignation to ironic amusement.
Undisciplined tourists have been tormenting the Italian authorities for years.
In 2022, a man was charged with drive a Maserati through the famous Spanish Steps in Rome. That same year, some tourists were fined for doing surfing on the Grand Canal in Venice.
In 2023, a group of young tourists who posed on social networks were accused of tear down a valuable statue in a village in northern Italy. That same year, in Florence, a tourist was arrested accused of damaging a statue of the Fountain of Neptune, from the 16th century, in Piazza della Signoria.
‘s Forrest Brown contributed to this report.
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