It's happening again.
We're only in early February, but there's already a solid contender for this year's "Worst Actor In an Italian Tourist Role" award.
In case you missed our story, an American in Florence drove his rental car across the medieval and-most importantly in this context-pedestrian-only Ponte Vecchio Bridge while looking for a parking spot.
He was fined €500 (around $540) and sent on his way.
In 2022, we saw a tourist take his Maserati for a spin down the Spanish Steps in Rome, a shocking incident which was then quickly followed by someone flinging a scooter down the famous staircase, taking a chunk out of it along the way.
Last year also brought us tourists smashing a drone into the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a visitor to the Vatican flying into a holy rage that included the smashing of sculptures after being told that he wouldn't be allowed to meet Pope Francis.
My personal favorite? When two guys whizzed down Venice's Grand Canal on e-surfboards in a stunt (no doubt intended for social media) that saw them branded "two arrogant imbeciles" by the city's mayor. The duo was fined, banned from the city and had their very expensive surfboards seized.
This is to say nothing of the Colosseum carvers, fountain bathers and statue scalers the Italian authorities did battle with last year.
And with travel to Europe expected to hit pre-pandemic levels in 2023, you can expect many more naughty tourists where they came from.
Piazza in Venice, Italy (Photo via Getty Images)Why is it seemingly always Italy?
I've got a couple of theories.
Perhaps we've just done such a remarkable job of re-creating Italy at amusement parks, shopping malls and on the Vegas Strip over the last few decades, that tourists subconsciously think they're in a theme park when they are there-and act accordingly.
Or is it just the fact that this country is so breathtaking, so visually stunning that seeing it in person just simply short-circuits some people's brains?
Look, I know that people act like fools all over the world. As I write this, there's probably somebody driving a scooter through a shop window in Paris or punching a fellow passenger on a flight to Cabo.
But there is something particularly jarring about the juxtaposition of an ugly tourist and such a beautiful and historic country-one that at last count is home to more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other.
Yeah, of all the countries, we probably shouldn't wreck that one.
Or anywhere else for that matter.
Obviously, we should all do our best to be respectful of the countries that we visit. Oftentimes, that's just a matter of learning a few words of the local language, being polite and doing our best to follow local laws and customs.
I'm not saying don't go out and have a great time while you're in Italy. I sure did last year when I was in Milan and Rome and I can't wait to do it again soon.
Everyone's going to make a cultural faux pax or two while traveling abroad. I've done it. It's part of the experience and those mistakes help ultimately shape us into better travelers.
But let's try to stop trashing historic sites while we're at it, ok?
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