A couple of American tourists whose holiday to Rome included stealing a piece of history have returned a stone from the Colosseum they swiped 25 years ago as a souvenir. The little piece of travertine, small enough to fit into a pocket, arrived in Rome in a courier package from Greensboro, North Carolina. Our sincere gratitude to this brave couple for coming forward.
The couple writes, “We should have done this much earlier, but we apologize and return what we have taken from the Colosseum 25 years ago, to return to the place where it belongs“.
”Every time I looked at my souvenir collection and came across that small bit of stone from the Colosseum on our holiday to Rome, it made me feel guilty.” wrote the wife.
”Over the years, I started believing that if all the visitors to that beautiful monument took a piece of it away with them nothing would be left standing”. ”It was a selfish and superficial act”.
Rome archeological personnel recognized the couple’s apology, telling the absolute truth and showing regret showed that ”Rome and its monuments are the dream of all the world’s tourists”.
”The message is that visitors to our city keep going to care for it even after so many years,” said Lazio Tourism chief Claudio Mancini. He invited the couple back to Rome.
The fragment from the Colosseum, small enough to fit into a pocket, is now on its way back and headed to the Archaeological Superintendence of Rome, which was instantly contacted by the Regional Tourist Board of Rome and Lazio. An event without preceding, “of which we are very pleased” says the president of the Regional Tourist Board of Rome and Lazio, Federica Alatri “…because we are making enormous economic and organizational efforts to boost the image of Rome and we feel comforted by the sense of obligation that this couple has shown.”
• Last August a German tourist was caught trying to swipe a 9 kg rock from the Roman Forum out of Italy in her backpack.
• In 2006 another German tourist was arrested at Fiumicino Airport with a bit of a Roman column in his bag.
Excellent post – I cant wait to take my holiday in Rome – thanks for the wonderful info – Its sad they stole that piece of the Colosseum but am glad to see people are still (somewhat) honest.