Destroy monuments in Italy aboard a Maserati 0:45
Rome (CNN) --
Two American tourists have been fined and briefly banned from Rome's historic center after damaging the Spanish Steps with scooters.
The incident, which was caught on security cameras, comes less than a month after a Saudi man was arrested for driving a Maserati sports car rented by the 18th-century monument, also causing damage.
Police said the tourists, aged 28 and 29, were detained by a patrol around 2:45 a.m. local time on June 3 after they dropped a scooter down the steps, also known as Trinità de Monti.
Tourists swim naked in Venice canals and vandalize a church
"An American tourist couple threw a scooter down the Trinità dei Monti steps three times, damaging the penultimate travertine step of the second ramp on the side facing the San Sebastianello ramp," a statement from the office said on Thursday. of the cultural heritage of the Capital Superintendence.
restoration costs
Both tourists received a fine. Credit: Polizia Roma Capitale
The statement says the incident dislodged a 10-centimeter chunk of marble and puts the cost of the restoration at 25,000 euros ($27,000).
The two were fined 400 euros each, "in accordance with the provisions of the Urban Police Regulation," police said.
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The woman was also charged with a property damage claim for a monument, as at one point she deliberately threw the scooter she was riding down the stairs, police said.
The man and woman were banned from visiting the stairway area for two days, according to police.
In May, border police detained a 37-year-old Saudi man at Milan's international airport after driving, and abandoning, a rented Maserati down the stone steps.
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The car caused two-step fractures and "generalized chips, scratches and abrasions."
The Spanish Steps is one of the most famous monuments in Rome.
It takes its name from the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See, which has its headquarters in a palace in the lower square.
A €1.5m restoration of the monument was completed in 2015, and it has appeared in numerous films, including in 1953's "Roman Holiday" starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
-- Sharon Braithwaite and Livia Borghese contributed reporting.
American Romaturists