Tourist branded 'a**hole' after he's caught 'carving girlfriend's name' into Rome's Colosseum

People have been flooding to social media to condemn a tourist for carving into Rome's Colosseum.

The largest amphitheater ever built, 'the most iconic symbol of the ancient world in Rome', 1,951 years old and now also home to a carving of the name Hayley.

There's scrawling your name on the door of a nightclub's grotty bathroom door, and there's carving your initials in a tree, but scratching your name and your alleged girlfriend's name into the side of one of the seven wonders of the world? Social media users are not happy.

Pexels/ Chait Goli

The video - posted by YouTuber @rytz5973 who also goes by regenerate_life on Reddit - shows a blonde woman and man standing next to a wall of Rome's Colosseum.

The man's hands are raised and as the camera gets closer, you can see he's etching something into one of the bricks - what looks like 'Ivan + Hayley 23.'

After realising he's been spotted, the carver swings around and looks at the camera, before laughing at the camera person who comments: "Are you serious man? That's f**ked up. Stupid a**hole."

The caption of the video reads: "A**hole tourist carves his and girlfriend's names on Colosseum wall - June 23 2023."

YouTube/@rytz5873

And it's clear many others agree with the camera person's sentiment, flocking to the footage to quickly condemn the tourist's actions.

One person said: "You shouldn’t have to deface a piece of ancient history to show your feelings for someone, next time try oral."

A second added: "Rome (indeed most Italian cities I visited) are awash in graffiti. It’s absolutely everywhere. But it seems the graffiti people leave the historical stuff alone. This is a tourist being an a** though… what a colossal d*** thing to do."

While a third commented: "Absolutely despicable behaviour and I hope they get fined for it or worse. The cheeky smile at the end shows he CLEARLY knew what he was doing was wrong. This is what entitlement looks like."

A final resolved: "People like this should have their passports revoked."

YouTube/@rytz5873

However, another user defended the tourist.

They said: "Seems to me he isn't the only one. There are other carvings there. I think he saw that and thought to do it too. Probably an innocent mistake."

The person who recorded the video went on to explain they reported the tourist's carving of the Colosseum to staff but they're not sure what happened after.

"I shows them the video and pointed the guy out, and they said they told the police but didn’t seem to want the video. I left and didn’t find out what happened," they wrote.

'Innocent mistake' or not, if the tourist is caught by police, they could face a hefty fine - a Russian tourist was fined nearly £16,000 in 2014 for carving into the historic structure - or even a year in prison.