Disrespectful tourists in Italy spray football graffiti on 460-year-old landmark

Some German tourists have vandalised a 460-year-old landmark in Italy with football-related graffiti. The historic Vasari Corridor in the Italian city of Florence had "DKS 1860", a reference to the 1860 Munich football club, spray painted on seven of its archways, reported The Independent.

Police arrest 2 German tourists

Every summer, Italy reports several incidents that result in damage to renowned works of architecture. This time it was the turn of the 460-year-old Vasari Corridor, a beautiful riverside passageway connected to the famous Uffizi Galleries in Florence.

The corridor was spoilt in the early hours of August 23 by two German tourists, aged 20 and 21. The suspects were staying in an Airbnb with 11 others, as per the Florence arm of Italy's Carabinieri military police, reported CNN.

"The Carabinieri of the Operations Unit of the Florence and of the Uffizi Carabinieri Station, analyzing video surveillance footage, managed to identify two individuals who, at 5.20 this morning, damaged the very important artistic site," the Florentine Carabinieri said in a statement.

Italy's Culture Ministry has said the repair work of the vandalism would cost them at least €10,000 (£8,600), with work to be carried out under the supervision of 24-hour armed guards.

The two suspects were monitored after they used spray paint to write on the ancient structure, the Carabinieri said. The police raided the German tourists' Airbnb on Thursday under a search warrant, and two cans of black spray paint and paint-stained clothing were recovered.

Further investigation is underway as the authorities are now comparing fingerprints from the paint cans to the 11 students who were all questioned in the matter.

Florence's decorated one-kilometer-long Vasari Corridor was built by Italian Renaissance painter and architect Giorgio Vasari in less than nine months in 1565. It was projected as a secret covered route for the then leader of the Medici dynasty, Cosimo I de'Medici, to move freely between his residence and the government palace.

The corridor was closed to the public in 2016 due to safety concerns over evacuation exits. The historic landmark has been undergoing work since 2019 to reopen it to the public.

Badly behaved tourists

The vandalism in Florence is just one of the incidents of tourists behaving badly in Italy. Earlier this year, a man claimed he wasn't aware of the "antiquity" of Rome's Colosseum after he was caught scratching his and his girlfriend's name into it. Tourists have also hurled e-scooters and driven a Maserati down the Spanish Steps in Rome.