A historic rock at the summit of one of the Dolomite mountains has been vandalized with anti-tourist graffiti. The message “Tourists go home” was discovered near fossilized dinosaur footprints of the Eubrontes species at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, an iconic site in Italy's UNESCO-listed Dolomite mountain range.
Paralympic skier Moreno Pesce stumbled upon the graffiti while hiking and posted a video of the defacement on his Facebook page. "This is not how love for the mountains or sharing passion for them looks," Posa wrote. "A good life, but above all healthy mountains, looks different from this."
The graffiti was found on a popular trail between the peaks of Mount Oronzo and Mount Lavaredo, near the dinosaur tracks discovered in 1992. Scientists believe the footprints are between 200 and 250 million years old.
This is not the first recent act of vandalism at historical sites in Italy. In August, a 37-year-old British tourist was heavily fined after carving his family's initials into a wall at the House of the Vestals in Pompeii, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The tourism crisis in Europe has spiraled out of control
Protests, fines, price hikes, harassment, and even acts of violence have greeted many visitors who flocked to Europe's most popular destinations this summer.
Locals, frustrated by traffic jams and the erosion of their cultural identity, have launched a movement that's spreading across the continent. "At first, it was something pure and beautiful, and it contributed positively to the local economy," a resident of an alpine town in Switzerland told Der Spiegel. "But now, in summer, our town is one big traffic jam of buses, selfie sticks are part of the urban landscape, people are bringing drones, and to beat the bus jams, they're organizing helicopter tours. Every day, dozens of food trucks arrive. This is no longer our town, and it's certainly not what it used to be. No amount of income can make up for that."
In Italy, there are even discussions about limiting access to Rome's Trevi Fountain, with potential plans to require advance reservations for visitors.
Last year, as tourism rebounded following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, 709 million tourists visited Europe, eager to see its museums, churches, designer shops, beaches, and historical heritage—a 22% increase compared to a decade ago.
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