But memories weren’t enough for one British tourist, who was caught this week engraving the initials of himself and his family into one of the city’s 2,000-year-old houses. Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79CE and is now one of Italy's most popular -- and most fragile -- tourist sites. However in June, when a tourist from Kazakhstan was caught carving his initials on the House of the Ceii in the ancient city, Pompeii’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said that the tourist would have to pay for the restoration of the wall. A lesser charge for defacing heritage sites can impose fines between 10,000 to 40,000 euros. In 2022, an Australian tourist even rode a moped around the ancient site.

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Persons: Ivan Romano, ANSA, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Sklifas Steven, Alamy Organizations: CNN, Vestal, Staff, Torre Locations: 79CE, Kazakhstan, Torre Annuziata, Australian, Italy