Watch: Man drives Maserati down Rome's iconic ‘Spanish Steps'; gets arrested
- The Maserati Levante stunt caused fractures to the 16th and 29th steps of the right-hand staircase of Rome's Spanish Steps.
A 37-year-old man has been caught by police in Italy for driving a rented Maserati Levante down Rome’s iconic Trinità dei Monti stairs, also popularly known as the Spanish Steps, Sky News reported. A CCTV footage of the incident posted on YouTube has captured the black Levante driving down the legendary steps during the early hours of the morning. The driver clearly did not think much before performing the bizarre stunt.
The Maserati SUV’s license plates were fully displayed and it was easy for the local authorities to trace it back to a rental car company based in Milan. The Polizia Roma Capitale posted on Facebook that they were able to identify the driver of the SUV thanks to help from the rental car company.
The man was then arrested at Milan Malpensa Airport when he was attempting to return the car. “With the contribution of the Milan-based car rental company, it was possible to identify the driver, who was stopped at the moment of delivery of the car at Malpensa airport," the post read. A complaint was triggered against him for aggravated damage to cultural and monumental assets.
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The Maserati stunt caused fractures to the 16th and 29th steps of the right-hand staircase and they had to be temporarily fixed to allow for continued pedestrian use, the report stated. Rome’s heritage protection body said that some of the fragments were reattached to the stairs but further work will be required to properly restore them.
The report further noted that there were widespread chippings, scratches, abrasions, and deposits on both ramps of the second level due to the incident. However, the culprit's intention behind this act remains unclear.
The Trinità dei Monti stairs or the Spanish Steps run from the Trinità dei Monti church at the top to the Piazza di Spagna at the base. Constructed between 1723 and 1725, these stairs have become one of Italy’s most popular tourist attractions.