Naughty tourists to face 48-hour exile from Rome if they misbehave

Badly-behaved tourists in Rome could face a 48-hour ban from the city for things like wading in fountains as part of a new get-tough approach.

The city’s mayor Virginia Raggi has introduced a law banning bad behaviour like eating or drinking or climbing on monuments, walking around partially unclothed and wading through fountains.

Breaking the rules could see naughty tourists banned from Rome’s historic centre for 48 hours.

Some of the measures already existed in temporary form but a city council vote on Thursday made them permanent.

Ms Raggi, the highest profile mayor for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, boasted that for the first time since 1946, Rome had an "all-encompassing law" ending decades of "temporary rules".

She said: “We don't want people to take a bath, or ruin or dirty monuments any more.”

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"Rome city centre is an area protected by Unesco, so clearly our centre is our business ticket," she added in an interview in which she promised "zero tolerance for those marring our city".

Ms Raggi also told reporters she has started writing to foreign ambassadors whose citizens had been caught behaving badly.

Frolicking in Rome’s fountains was made famous by Anita Ekberg, who danced in the city's Trevi Fountain in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita.

Rome is the latest city to clamp down on tourists.

Last year Florence called for fines up to 500 euros (£445) for visitors who eat on pavements or in doorways at meal times near its landmark Uffizi Galleries while Venice previously banned tourists from eating in St Mark's Square unless they were eating or drinking at the square's expensive cafes.

On Friday, police could reportedly be seen telling tourists near the Spanish Steps to put their shoes back on and stop drinking beer.