A Kazakh tourist was caught and arrested in the act of carving his name on one of the houses in Pompeii.
Park security noticed the incident and detained the tourist, but not before he carved the letters "ALI" on a plaster wall of the House of Ceii. He was reported to the carabinieri, who then arrested the man for questioning.
"Unfortunately, even today, we find ourselves commenting on an uncivilized and idiotic disgrace caused to our artistic and cultural heritage," said Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy's culture minister. "This is a very serious act that will have to be prosecuted severely and, also thanks to the new law that I strongly supported, the perpetrator will be forced to repay the costs of fully restoring the damage caused."
The new law, dubbed the "Eco Vandals" law, was passed last January in response to a string of vandalistic acts committed by climate change protesters on historic monuments. It greatly increases the fines for defacing monuments from 1,500-15,000 euros to 40,000 euros ($43,548), and even up to 60,000 euros if cultural heritage is destroyed.
Excavated from 1913 to 1914, the House of Ceii is one of the few houses at the Pompeii Archaeological Park. Dating from the late Samnite Period, two to three hundred years before the disastrous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, it likely belonged to a wealthy magistrate named Lucius Ceius Secundus. Its walls are decorated with vibrant scenes of animals locked in combat, including a lion running down a bull and dogs bringing down a wild boar.
The vandal has been released "after completing all the necessary formalities with law enforcement agencies," although the amount of his compensation will still be determined after a technical examination.
Around this time last year, a group of Kazakhs were arrested in Greece for causing a forest fire after launching fireworks from a pleasure boat.
