Italy vows to find and punish tourist who defaced Colosseum wall

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows a flower field next to the Colosseum as spring starts in Rome, Italy, March 21, 2023. REUTERS/ Remo Casilli

ROME (Reuters) - Italian authorities are looking for a tourist who scribbled graffiti on a wall of the Colosseum, with Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano calling for exemplary punishment for the so-far unidentified man.

The tourist was caught in a video, posted on social media on Saturday, scratching his and his girlfriend's name with a key on an internal wall of the ancient Roman stone amphitheatre. He left the inscription "Ivan + Hayley 23".