You might be thinking “well, why didn’t one take a selfie then get out of the way for the other?” Because they’ll take dozens of selfies in order to get that one perfect one, especially if they’re trying to get that sexy one for Instagram
One of Rome’s most famous landmarks was the backdrop for a vicious brawl Wednesday night — and it all started with a desire to take selfies.
The Guardian reports that local police were called to the Trevi Fountain — the iconic, Nicola Salvi-designed tourist destination famous for appearing in films such as Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita — after two women came to blows. The reason for the dispute? Both women wanted to use the same spot to take selfies.
As Italian newspaper La Repubblica was the first to report, the two tourists — a 19-year-old Dutch woman and a 44-year-old Italian-American — argued over the space, with their respective family members eventually getting involved. All told, eight people were reportedly involved in the fight, which required four police officers to break up.
There’s already plenty of bad behavior going on at this fountain, and many others. People wading in (and recreating the scene from Federico Fellini’s film La Dolce Vita, in which the late Swedish actor Anita Ekberg wades into the fountain), dipping their toes, swimming, dropping food in, and so forth. Rome authorities are looking at ways to make it so people walk by scenes such as the Trevi Fountain without stopping. Bad apples are ruining for everyone else.
Instagram narcissism leads to blows: 44-yo American woman and Dutch teenager start an 8-person brawl at Rome’s Trevi Fountain over prime selfie positions. https://t.co/vo3AJjpf9W pic.twitter.com/7IWAE497Sy
— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) August 10, 2018
The Trevi Fountain was one of the first spots featured in #SelfiesAcrossEurope. It's a madhouse, so this is not at all surprising. https://t.co/mNjshbZhj2 pic.twitter.com/t0UEDY0A3G
— Chelsea London (@_clondon) August 11, 2018
My GF was at the Trevi Fountain today and sent me a video of the scene. It wasn’t packed wall to wall but it was crowded and most people were sitting there looking at their phone screens. We video chatted about it and she said that so many people looked unhappy there, especially parents. She thought it was sad, people traveling thousands of miles just to take a selfie at a crowded fountain. I said I would not go to Rome in August. I’ve been there before and couldn’t wait to leave, just noise and heat and lines and crowds and anger and pickpockets. There was a strike and soldiers. I had another girlfriend get carjacked at gunpoint there, he drove off with her toddler in the back seat. Rome is supposed to be romantic or something. Not for me. I told her I wouldn’t go to Rome, so I’m meeting her at the Rome airport and driving straight to the Amalfi Coast next week
Today in Rome a gelato place invited her in for a gelato on a hot day. She went in, asked for a small cone which are usually 3 Euros, and they instead gave her a glass bowl and invited her to rest her legs and sit at a table. Then they gave her a bill for 14 Euros. 7 Euros was for a “table charge”. She didn’t pay. As she sat there she heard guest after guest get upset at the charges. #ripoffrome