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British Tourist Faces 5 Years In Jail For Carving Girlfriend’s Name Into Rome’s Colosseum
British Tourist Who Carved Girlfriend’s Name Into Rome’s Colosseum Faces 5 Years In Jail, Begs For Forgiveness
The UK tourist who was caught on video carving his and his fiancée’s names into the wall of Rome’s Colosseum offered a groveling apology to the city, along with a mind-boggling explanation — claiming that he didn’t realize just how ancient the world-famous landmark was before he defaced it.
Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian-born fitness trainer living in Bristol, England, penned a letter to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, begging forgiveness after allegedly using a key to etch “Ivan + Hayley 23” into the 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site last month.
In the note published in the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero Wednesday, Dimitrov, who faces a steep fine and possible jail time, claimed that he did not know how old the Colosseum — one of the world’s most recognized monuments — was until it was too late.
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“It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument,” Dimitrov confessed.
The ill-informed fitness instructor, who was identified by Italian police as the culprit behind the vandalism after a five-day search, wrote that only now did he realize “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,” Dimitrov pleaded.
Dimitrov’s attorney, Alexandro Maria Tirelli, painted his client as a run-of-the-mill ignorant tourist. “The boy is the prototype of the foreigner who frivolously believes that anything is allowed in Italy, even the type of act which in their own countries would be severely punished,” Tirelli told Il Messaggero.
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