Tourist stopped from vandalising Pompeii site
A tourist from Kazakhstan was stopped on Saturday morning by security and reception staff while he was carving the letters ALI on a light-coloured plaster in the House of the Ceii in the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
The tourist was reported to the Carabinieri, and will be questioned on any damage caused following an assessment of the plaster.
Park Director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said the tourist would have to pay for any restoration to the wall. "Bravo to the Ministry and Ales employees who promptly intervened. Excellent collaboration with the Carabinieri, whom we thank for their promptness," added Zuchtriegel.
The house of the Ceii
The House of the Ceii, excavated between 1913 and 1914, is one of the rare examples of an ancient dwelling from the late Samnite period (2nd century BC). It's believed to have been the home of the magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus.
The facade of the house, with white stucco panelling and the high portal crowned by cubic capitals, is illustrative of the what a middle-class house of the late Samnite period might have looked like.
