close Video Tourist filmed carving name on wall at Rome’s ancient Colosseum Italy’s culture minister called the incident a ‘serious, unworthy and a sign of great incivility.’ A young man from the Netherlands was reprimanded by Italian police after he allegedly vandalized a historic Roman wall while on holiday. The incident took place in Herculaneum, an Ancient Roman town that – like Pompeii – was covered in volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
In a press release published Monday, the Carabinieri, an Italian law enforcement agency, explained that the tourist "signed" the walls of a domus in the town on Sunday night. A domus was a townhouse-like residence for families in antiquity. The 27-year-old was touring southern Italy on vacation at the time.
ANCIENT ROMAN WALL PAINTING DOES NOT DEPICT PIZZA AFTER ALL, ARCHEOLOGISTS SAY A 27-year-old Dutch man was arrested for allegedly vandalizing an Ancient Roman wall. (Getty Images / Carabinieri) "A 27-year-old Dutchman, on holiday in Campania, decided to leave a sign of his passage, writing with a marker on the ancient stuccoes of a house torn from the ashes of Vesuvius," the police's statement read. "A signature, with a black marker, [was] indelible.
" "The man was immediately identified and reported for damage and smearing of artistic works." Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said on Facebook that the suspect was punished for "damaging and [the] oxidation of [the] artwork." WOMAN OUT FOR W.