A female tourist has sparked widespread criticism as she was captured imitating sex acts with a famous statue in Florence, Italy.
The woman, whose nationality remains unknown, reportedly climbed up to Giambologna’s nude Bacchus and started pretending to kiss him.
She then proceeded to grind her backside against the statue’s crotch as her friend took pictures as she imitated sex acts.
The incident, reported by Instagram page @welcome_to_florence, sparked outrage among locals and authorities.
“Florence is a city that does not make visitors respect it. These continuous manifestations of rudeness and incivility occur because everyone feels entitled to do what they want with impunity”, Patrizia Asproni from Confcultura, a cultural heritage organisation, said.
“We need to apply the ‘Singapore model’: tight controls, very high fines, zero tolerance.”
Police chief Antonella Ranaldi also added: “Tourists are welcome, but there must be respect for our monuments, whether they are originals or copies. Also because I doubt that this lady, who has my blame, knows the difference.”
Marco Passeri, a former councillor for Florence, even asked if the city really needed “these kind of tourists”, as overtourism and rowdy behaviour grows in popular holiday destinations.
The pictures have amassed a lot of attraction online, with Italians expressing their frustration with disrespectful visitors.
“They’re making all the residents run away, so these southern animals can come in”, one user commented.
“Yuck, Florence is becoming a circus”, another wrote, while a third simply said: “My goodness, the level of stupidity.”
Some have even called for the tourists to go to prison over the “sexual acts”.
The statue in itself is a bronze replica from 2006, but stands atop a historical marble fountain called “del Centauro” believed to have been built between 1563-1566, which the tourists had to scale to reach Bacchus.