Nobody is a fan of messy eaters, but this Italian city has taken it one step further.
The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, has strict rules in place for the popular tourist destination, where visitors could be slapped with a €240 (£200) fine for eating messy foods near one of its famous fountains.
In a crackdown on misbehaving tourists, Rome introduced a series of fines, including ‘messy’ public snacking, touching water fountains while taking a drink, men going topless in public and leaving “love padlocks” on bridges in 2019.
“Rome is, and always will be, welcoming, but that does not mean tolerating bad behaviour and damage being done to our city,” the mayor at the time, Virginia Raggi told The Telegraph.
In 2017, the city also banned eating and drinking at their fountains.
If you’re caught digging into your lunch at the hotspot, you can expect a fine of up to €240.
However, this isn’t the only nonconventional rule in the Italian city. If you dress up as a Roman centurion and charge money for pictures, you can be fined up to €400 (£337).
Other bizarre rules include pulling a wheeled suitcase up and down the Spanish Steps and bathing in the Trevi fountain. In 2018, two Canadian tourists found themselves with a €450 fine after attempting the latter.
Rome isn’t the only Italian city to have peculiar rules. In tourist hotspot Portofino, visitors could face a €275 “Instagram fine”.
In the town, tourists seen lingering in viral Instagram or TikTok spots to take selfies can be fined £242 for creating a dangerous situation. Authorities have implemented “no waiting” red zones to prevent human traffic jams and busy walkways during peak tourist season.
Speaking to The Times, the Mayor of Portofino Matteo Viacava said: “The objective is not to make the place more exclusive but to allow everyone to enjoy our beauty.” He believes that the influx of tourists stopping to take pictures causes “anarchic chaos” that makes these fines mandatory.
