An American tourist faces a fine of up to €10,000 after he was caught relieving himself on the historic Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence.
The man, aged 21 and from New Jersey, was spotted peeing on the steps leading to the famous open-air gallery at around 1:30am on Tuesday.He was swiftly stopped and issued a ticket for “acts contrary to public decency”, which carries a fine of between €5,000 to €10,000.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, which houses several valuable classical and Renaissance statues, is monitored by security guards and surveillance cameras.
According to reports, the man relieved himself next to a statue of Hercules fighting the monster Cacus by the sculptor Bartolommeo Bandinelli, which is at the eastern corner of the Loggia, outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria.