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Who Knew the Colosseum Was So Old? Tourist Apologizes for Defacement.

A man who etched his initials and those of his girlfriend in a wall of the nearly 2,000-year-old monument wrote a letter of apology, and his lawyer says he is hoping for a plea bargain.

By Elisabetta Povoledo

A man seen on video last month using his keys to etch his love for his girlfriend on a wall in the Colosseum in Rome has written a letter of apology, saying he had no idea the nearly 2,000-year-old monument was so ancient.

“I admit with deepest embarrassment that it was only after what regrettably happened that I learned of the monument’s antiquity,” the man — identified by his lawyer as Ivan Danailov Dimitrov, 27 — wrote in a letter dated July 4 and addressed to the Rome prosecutor’s office, the mayor of Rome and “the municipality of Rome.”

Portions of the letter were first published on Wednesday in the Rome daily newspaper Il Messaggero.

In it, Mr. Dimitrov acknowledged the “seriousness of the deed I committed,” and offered his “heartfelt and sincere apologies to Italians and the entire world for the damage done to a monument, which is, in fact, heritage of all humanity.” Mr. Dimitrov offered to “sincerely and concretely” right his wrong and redeem himself.

The carving came to light last month after a fellow tourist in Rome filmed a man scratching “Ivan + Hayley 23/6/23” into a brick on a wall of the Colosseum. The video went viral, and “Ivan,” whose identity was then not known, was widely rebuked for his devil-may-care attitude. Admonished — with an expletive — by the video-taker, Mr. Dimitrov carried on.

The brick that was defaced was actually part of a wall built during a mid-19th century restoration of the monument, which was inaugurated in the first century A.D. But that made little difference to Colosseum authorities who said that it didn’t change the fact that the act was vandalism.

Mr. Dimitrov was eventually identified by Italian military police officers who crosschecked the two lovers’ names with registered guests in Rome and found they had stayed in an Airbnb rental in the Cinecittà neighborhood. Roberto Martina, the police commander who oversaw the operation, said they tracked Mr. Dimitrov to England, where he and his girlfriend, who is not under investigation, live.

Italy is no stranger to unruly visitors leaving their mark. Three years ago, a spate of incidents prompted lawmakers to stiffen penalties for vandalizing Italy’s venerable cultural heritage. And the country wants to impose even tougher laws on climate activists, who have vandalized cultural property to protest what they call government inaction on climate change.

“It should be said that when foreign tourists come to Italy, from anywhere, not any particular nationality, there’s this idea that they’ve come to a country where everything is allowed, where they turn a blind eye, where it’s ‘that’s how it goes,’” said Alexandro Maria Tirelli, Mr. Dimitrov’s lawyer. But his client may get caught in the crackdown, risking between two and five years in prison and a fine up to 15,000 euros, about $16,300. Mr. Tirelli said he was hoping for a plea bargain that will allow his client to pay a fine but serve no jail time.

Mr. Dimitrov’s apology, the lawyer said, was an attempt to make clear “that he had pulled what he thought was a harmless stunt.”

Italian media on Wednesday pulled no punches. The letter of apology “defaced common sense,” Il Messaggero declared. Dagospia, a popular online website, suggested the letter only made things worse (Did he think the Colosseum was a fast-food restaurant, it asked?). A news anchor on the lunchtime news program of RAI 1, the main state channel, said the fact that Mr. Dimitrov hadn’t known that the monument was ancient “is really a somewhat unbelievable excuse.”

A spokesman for the Rome’s mayor office said that they had not received Mr. Dimitrov’s letter. The Rome prosecutor’s office declined to comment.

“I hope this apology will be accepted,” Mr. Dimitrov wrote in the letter.

An earlier version of this article misstated the age of Ivan Danailov Dimitrov. He is 27, not 31.

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Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome and has been writing about Italy for more than three decades. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

English tourist filmed carving into Rome's Colosseum claims ignorance of the monument's age

An English tourist who was filmed carving a note into the Colosseum in Rome has written a letter apologizing for defacing the nearly 2,000-year-old amphitheater and claimed he was unaware that the world-famous landmark was ancient.

The letter addressed to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri was published Wednesday in Il Messaggero , an Italian newspaper based in Rome. In the letter, the man, identified by his lawyer as 27-year-old Ivan Danailov Dimitrov, wrote: “I admit with deepest embarrassment that it was only after what regrettably happened that I learned of the antiquity of the monument.”

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Dimitrov, who could face prison time and a hefty fine, went on to say he was “aware of the gravity of the act” while extending “my heartfelt apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage done to an asset that is, in fact, the heritage of all humanity.”

Completed by Roman Emperor Titus in 80 A.D., the Colosseum became famous for the gladiators who would battle, often to the death, for the amusement of tens of thousands of spectators.

Dimitrov was the man seen using a key to etch “Ivan+Haley 23” − his name and the name of his significant other − into an internal wall of the monument in video originally shared to YouTube . Recorded by an outraged onlooker, the video of the the stunt, titled “(Expletive) tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome,” was uploaded June 23 to YouTube before being widely shared across social media, eliciting condemnation.

The video also alerted police to the vandalism, and Italian officials soon vowed to find and punish the man responsible.

“I consider it very serious, unworthy and a sign of great incivility that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world, a historical heritage (site) such as the Colosseum, to carve the name of his fiancee," the country's culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano,  tweeted on June 26, along with a video of the incident.

A five-day search led Italian police to Dimitrov, whom they traced to his home in Britain, according to The Associated Press . Vandalizing the Colosseum is an act that carries fines up up to $15,000 and five years in prison, the agency reported.

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Dimitrov’s lawyer, Alexandro Maria Tirelli, told Il Messaggero he hopes for leniency.

“The boy is the prototype of the foreigner who frivolously believes that anything is allowed in Italy," Tirelli told Il Messaggero, "even the type of act which in their own countries would be severely punished."

Contributing: The Associated Press

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta.

Tourist who defaced Colosseum says he wasn’t aware it was ancient

The man who carved a love note into a wall penned an apology letter to authorities in rome.

The tourist who infuriated a nation when he was captured scratching a love note into the Colosseum has apologized, claiming — with embarrassment — that he didn’t understand the history of the Roman monument.

In a letter addressed to the city’s prosecutor and mayor, Ivan Danailov Dimitrov, 27, wrote that he was aware of the seriousness of his actions and apologized to the people of Italy and the entire world for causing the damage at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Man carves love note into Colosseum in latest case of tourist misbehavior

“By damaging the Colosseum, I acted with frivolousness, flippancy and incivility, to the detriment of other visitors,” he wrote in Italian in the letter, which was translated by The Washington Post. “I have no excuses.”

Dimitrov wrote that he would take responsibility for his actions and acknowledged the “inestimable artistic and historical importance” of the site.

“I am profoundly embarrassed to admit that it was only after this sad incident that I began to appreciate just how ancient this monument is,” he wrote.

Dimitrov’s attorney, Alexandro Maria Tirelli, said in a message that he had already come up with a plea bargain request that would keep his client out of jail. He said that the prosecutor has agreed to no jail time, though the plea was still being negotiated.

Prosecutors and representatives for the Carabinieri, Italy’s national police, could not be reached Thursday afternoon. The Associated Press reported last week that authorities used photographs to identify the man as a visitor who lived in Britain.

Dimitrov’s face was visible in a video that went viral in late June, in which he used a key to write “Ivan + Hayley 23” on a wall. The American visitor who shot the video, Ryan Lutz, told NBC News that he was “flabbergasted” and informed security about the incident.

“I’d settle for this guy just kind of learning a lesson,” Lutz told the news outlet. “You don’t disrespect host countries.”

In Rome, the law targets such bad tourist behaviors as bathing in fountains

Italian officials expressed their outrage online, with culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano tweeting that the act was “a sign of great incivility” and tourism minister Daniela Santanchè saying on Twitter that she hoped the tourist would face sanctions.

Italy’s ANSA news agency reported that the penalties for the damage could include up to five years in prison and a fine of more than $16,000.

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‘I woz here!’ Why do tourists keep defacing the Colosseum?

Visitors have been caught carving their names into one of the world’s most famous buildings. Is this the best way to achieve immortality? And where do toilets fit in?

Name: Bad graffiti.

Age: At least since someone carved “I hope your piles again become sore” on a wall in Pompeii almost 2,000 years ago.

Appearance: Very rarely appropriate.

Graffiti is such an eyesore. I couldn’t disagree more. Graffiti has historical significance. It can tell us a lot about civilisations that lived thousands of years ago. Go to the Colosseum in Rome. I bet it has some great examples.

It does. Such as “Ivan + Hayley 23 ”. You’re talking about Ivan Dimitrov from Bristol , who was filmed in June in a viral video called “Asshole tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome”.

It’s awful. Yes, but cut the guy some slack. He didn’t know how old the Colosseum was. He wrote a letter of apology to the mayor of Rome saying that “only after what happened did I learn about the antiquity of the monument”.

Or there’s just the letter N. OK, that was by the 17-year-old Swiss girl who was caught defacing the Colosseum this month . But who knows what she was going to write? It might have been something profound. You’re right, though, defacing ancient monuments is never a good idea. Better to stick to trees.

Don’t do that either! Why? Because trees are living things and deliberately cutting through bark leaves them open to fatal invasion by pests or disease ? God, you’re no fun.

My point is that graffiti anywhere is bad. You say “bad”, but I prefer “historically significant”. Thanks to graffiti, when I walk around my neighbourhood I’m confronted with a running commentary of all the key issues that face my community.

And what issues are they? Well, um, there’s the issue of Covid being a conspiracy.

Stop ! Don’t you see, though? Every message left on a wall, no matter how libellous, is a way of reaching through time itself. It’s a way of telling future generations one simple message: “I woz ere.”

Where, exactly? Judging by the density of graffiti that I see, mainly the inside of a Wetherspoon’s toilet cubicle.

This is so depressing. Oh, come on, there is some great toilet door graffiti. One did the rounds a few years ago that read: “Since writing on bathroom stalls is done neither for wealth nor critical acclaim, it is the purest form of art. Discuss.”

Ugh, I think I preferred “Ivan + Hayley 23” . Me too. Let’s go and carve it into the Tower of Jericho!

Do say: “Graffiti enables us to achieve permanence in our transient existence.”

Don’t say: “Covid is a hoax, 5G is the killer.”

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British tourist who vandalised the Colosseum apologises and says he didn't realise how old it was

• Thursday 6 July 2023 at 7:43pm

A tourist, who was filmed etching his and his girlfriend's name into the Colosseum, has apologised to the Mayor of Rome and claimed he did not realise how old the historic site was.

On June 27, a video showing a man using his keys to carve "Ivan+Hayley 23" into the amphitheatre went viral.

Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano called the act “undignified and a sign of great incivility.”

He said he hoped the culprits would be found “and punished according to our laws”.

Around two weeks after the incident, the alleged vandal - Ivan Dimitrov from Bristol - has written a letter of apology to the authorities.

In the letter, published by Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, the man writes: "I admit with profound embarrassment that only after what regretfully happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument".

He added: "I wish to address my most heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity".

He also praised those who "guard the inestimable historical and artistic value of the Colosseum with dedication, care and sacrifice". The incident was the fourth time this year that this type of graffiti was reported at the Colosseum.

Punishment for the act includes fines of up to £11,790 and five years in prison.

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UK Tourist Who Defaced Colosseum Says He Did Not Realise How Old It Was

Dimitov was caught on camera using a set of keys to engrave the names of himself and his girlfriend into the colosseum's wall..

Dimitov's action offended everyone across the globe.

A Bristol fitness instructor who inscribed his name on the Colosseum wall pleads with Italian authorities for their pardon after the video of the incident sparked condemnation.

According to the BBC , UK-based Ivan Dimitrov made the comment in a letter of apology to Rome's mayor, saying he understood "the seriousness of the deed".

He etched "Ivan + Hayley 23" his and his girlfriend's names-on the 2,000-year-old amphitheatre with a key. His actions in June were filmed by a bystander and sparked condemnation.

Dimitrov extended his "sincere and heartfelt apology to the Italians and to the entire world."

"I admit with profound embarrassment that only after what regretfully happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument. He added that he praised those who "guard the inestimable historical and artistic value of the Colosseum with dedication, care, and sacrifice."

Before giving the recording to security personnel, the person who had videotaped Dimitrov had verbally warned him.

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The video of the incident was posted on YouTube and disseminated on social media.

Dimitrov might be punished with a fine of up to 15,000 euros and a two- to five-year prison sentence if found guilty of a crime.

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Italian police say man filmed carving name on Colosseum from UK

Italian officials promised to find and punish tourist who carved ‘Ivan+Haley 23’ on a wall of the Colosseum in Rome.

Italian police said they believe the man filmed engraving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend on the ancient Roman Colosseum in Rome is a tourist who lives in the United Kingdom.

The identification was made using photographic comparisons, Italian Carabinieri said in a press statement on Thursday.

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The statement did not provide the name of the suspect nor his whereabouts. When reached by phone, police said no further information could be given.

Italian officials have said they will find and punish the tourist who carved “Ivan+Haley 23” on a wall of the Colosseum in Rome, a crime that has resulted in hefty fines in the past.

The vandal was filmed in the act by a tourist from the United States, Ryan Lutz, who posted the video on social media after he said Colosseum guards failed to show interest in his footage.

“It’s extremely disgraceful and a sign of great lack of culture that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world, a piece of historical heritage,” Italy’s Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said on Tuesday.

Sangiuliano expressed the hope that the culprit would be found and punished.

Built in the first century, the Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre in the world, a Roman landmark and a major tourist attraction that draws approximately a million visitors each year.

The incident was at least the fourth time this year that such graffiti was reported at the Colosseum, an act that carries fines of up to $15,000 and five years in prison.

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UK tourist who defaced Colosseum offers jaw-dropping explanation for vandalism

A UK tourist who defaced the Colosseum has offered a jaw-dropping explanation for vandalising one of the world’s most recognised monuments.

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The UK tourist who was caught on video carving his and his fiancee’s names into the wall of Rome’s Colosseum offered a grovelling apology to the city, along with a mind-boggling explanation.

Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian-born fitness trainer living in Bristol, England, penned a letter to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, begging forgiveness after allegedly using a key to etch “Ivan + Hayley 23” into the 2000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site last month.

In the note published in the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero on Wednesday, Mr Dimitrov, who faces a steep fine and possible jail time, claimed that he did not know how old the Colosseum was until it was too late, The Sun reports.

“It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument,” Mr Dimitrov confessed.

The ill-informed fitness instructor, who was identified by Italian police as the culprit behind the vandalism after a five-day search, wrote that only now did he realise “the seriousness of the deed committed”.

“Through these lines I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity,” Mr Dimitrov said.

Mr Dimitrov’s lawyer, Alexandro Maria Tirelli, painted his client as a run-of-the-mill ignorant tourist.

“The boy is the prototype of the foreigner who frivolously believes that anything is allowed in Italy, even the type of act which in their own countries would be severely punished,” Mr Tirelli told Il Messaggero .

Mr Dimitrov was seen in a viral video late last month wearing a blue flowery shirt and gleefully carving up an internal wall of the Roman stone amphitheatre completed by Emperor Titus in 80AD.

The video of the visitor’s antics, titled “A**hole tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome,” was uploaded to YouTube on June 23, before spreading across social media and sparking outrage.

Ryan Lutz, of Orange, California, who filmed the act of vandalism, said he had just finished a guided tour of the Colosseum when he spotted the fellow tourist “blatantly carving his name” into the wall.

“And as you see in the video, I kind of approach him and ask him, dumbfounded at this point, ‘Are you serious? Are you really serious?’” Mr Lutz said. “And all he could do is like smile at me.”

Mr Lutz said guards at the site failed to take action when he approached them with his incriminating footage.

Italy’s Carabinieri police said days later that they identified the suspect and his girlfriend, and opened an investigation, but the couple had left the country before they could be detained.

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“This act was offensive to everyone around the world who appreciates the value of archaeology, monuments and history,” said Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano.

Mr Dimitrov, originally from Lovech, Bulgaria, could face a fine of more than $24,000 and a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted of damaging a cultural heritage asset in Italy.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission

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Italy vows to find and punish tourist who defaced Colosseum wall

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Ryan Lutz via Reuters

Italian authorities say they know the identity of the man caught on video recently etching his and his paramour’s names into the ancient walls of the Colosseum in Rome. Another tourist recorded the man beaming as he hacked the words “Ivan+Hayley 23” into a wall on the iconic, 2000-year-old structure in front of his partner. In a tweet noting that police had identified the culprit as a British tourist, Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano confirmed that the pair are indeed named Ivan and Hayley. Sangiuliano indicated the case would likely go to trial, and called it an “act that offended everyone across the globe who appreciate the value of archaeology, of monuments and of history.” The tourist could face a hefty fine or several years in prison if found guilty.

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17-year-old swiss girl becomes second tourist to deface rome’s colosseum in a month.

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When in Rome … another tourist has defaced the Colosseum.

A Swiss girl carved her initials into the iconic amphitheater — less than a month after another tourist stunningly defaced the ancient landmark with his and his fiancée’s names

Police have launched an investigation after Italian tour guide David Battaglino captured video of the unidentified 17-year-old girl carving the letter “N” into the wall, La Repubblica reported .

The footage posted on Twitter by the Italian news agency ANSA shows the blond girl, whose face is blurred, using an object to carve the letter before she backs off amid the attention.

“It is the first time I have managed to film an act of vandalism at the Colosseum but in six years I have seen dozens,” he told the local news outlet.

“There are also those who rip off parts of the wall. They even spat on me once for scolding a boy,” Battaglino added.

​The guide said he kept talking to his tour group as he recorded the clueless teen defacing the Colosseum.

“After a few seconds, my group applauded me. To her, in English, I said, ‘Do you want applause?’ The young girl understood that she had ended up in the crosshairs of those who protect art and turned away to go toward her family,” Battaglino told La Repubblica.

He said he told the girl’s parents that what she had done was illegal and claimed they blew him off with a “gesture of annoyance,” according to news outlet Italy24 .

​“She’s just a little girl, she wasn’t doing anything wrong,” the parents told him, according to La Repubblica.

Battaglino said he snapped a photo of the whole family and notified authorities, who questioned them at police headquarters.

The teen ​could face up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to 15,000 euros — almost $17,000 — for damaging cultural property, according to reports.

The incident comes on the heels of a similar act of vandalism at the site.

Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian-born fitness trainer living in Bristol, England, was caught on video.

He allegedly used a key to etch “Ivan + Hayley 23” into the 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site.

He later offered a bizarre apology to Mayor Roberto Gualtieri in which he begged for forgiveness and claimed he did not know how old the Colosseum, completed by Emperor Titus in 80 AD, was when he committed the act.

“It is with deep embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened did I learn of the antiquity of the monument,” Dimitrov wrote. “Through these lines, I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity.”

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Another tourist is facing backlash for defacing the Colosseum, but an archaeologist says people have 'always' defaced monuments like this. We just care more now.

• Another tourist carved into the walls of the Colosseum earlier this month.
• But, experts say people have been defacing the monument for centuries.
• Even ancient Romans themselves were known to tag the Colosseum.

The human need to leave a mark on the world is not a new phenomenon — even in the case of graffiti.

After  yet another tourist was caught  defacing Rome's Colosseum, it may seem  like these incidents  are on the rise. But an archaeology professor says people have "always" done this and that we just care more now.

"It's the sort of thing that people do and always have done," Valerie Higgins, a professor of archeology and cultural heritage at the American University of Rome, told Insider. "People who in previous centuries did a big tour of Europe, the Grand tour, they put their name on places as well to sort of indicate they had been there. People like Lord Byron did it."

For example, on the walls of the Colosseum, there's one engraving from 1892 in which someone named J. Milber indicated that he had traveled from Strasbourg,  National Geographic reported in 2013 . 

What's different now, Higgins said, is that "We now have a particular regard for monuments that we haven't had in the past."

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"They matter a lot more to people and to their identity," Higgins added. "They've become a cultural symbol that people feel they have to protect, and institutions feel they have to protect."

But it's not just people from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries who left their marks on the Colosseum. Even ancient Romans themselves did it.

During a Colosseum restoration project that began in 2012, experts discovered centuries of graffiti, some even dating back 2,000 years, National Geographic reported in 2013. That restoration revealed red and gray markings of a palm frond, the profile of a face, and the letters "VIND," which could stand for vindicatio, a Latin word meaning vengeance, National Geographic reported. 

Ancient Romans actually left graffiti all around the world — scrawlings that were typically either vulgar and sexual or lofty and poetic, The Spectator reported earlier this month . 

Ancient graffiti at Pompeii, for example, ranged from "You catamite shitter!" and "Lucilla made money from her body" to more pretentious musings like, "Let whoever loves prosper" and "Every lover fights," when translated from Latin, according to The Spectator.

But, despite the historical abundance of graffiti through the centuries, Higgins warns that modern tourists should still steer clear of defacing culturally significant monuments like the Colosseum. 

"It's a question of respect," she said, adding that the only way to deal with and prevent this behavior is education.

"Often, people just don't understand that this is a very important monument to some people. It's their identity. It's their national monument, and you don't just go around sort of writing on it."

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