American tourist apologises for being ‘an asshole’ after stealing marble fragment from Rome

It is thought the marble fragment may have been taken from the Roman Forum

Credit: Andrew Medichini /AP

A guilt-stricken American tourist who stole a chunk of ancient marble from Rome three years ago has sent it back, asking forgiveness “for being such an American asshole.”

The young woman, identified only as Jess, pilfered the piece of marble while on holiday in Rome in 2017.

She thought it would make a good present for her boyfriend, and scrawled “To Sam, love Jess, Rome” on it with a marker pen.

But on reflection she realised she should not have taken the object, which is believed to have come from the Roman Forum, once the heart of the Roman Empire.

She packed the marble in scrunched-up paper, placed it in a cardboard box and sent it from Atlanta, Georgia, to the Museo Nazionale Romano, a museum located a few paces from the imposing remains of huge public baths built by the Emperor Diocletian.

“I would like to return this rock to its rightful place,” she wrote in an attached letter.

Fragments of marble and mosaic have also been stolen by tourists from Pompeii

Credit: Ansa

“Please forgive me for being such an American asshole. I took something that was not mine to take. I feel terrible for not only having taken this item from its rightful place, but having written on it as well. That was extremely wrong of me.”

She said she had come to realise that she had behaved in an “inconsiderate and disrespectful” way.

Despite spending many hours “scrubbing and cleaning” the marble fragment to remove the marker pen writing, she had not been able to clean it. “Please forgive me!” she ended her letter.

The director of the museum applauded the gesture, saying he appreciated the fragment being sent back.

“Who knows, maybe being cooped up by the coronavirus pandemic made her reflect a bit and jogged her conscience,” Stephane Verger told Il Messagero newspaper. “It’s an important gesture.”

It is just the latest case of tourists in Italy sending back ancient bits of masonry or artefacts that they have pilfered from the country’s archeological sites.

Some have claimed that the stolen objects have brought them bad luck.

Last month, a Canadian woman sent back fragments of mosaic and an amphora that she had stolen from Pompeii, saying they were “cursed”.

Named only as Nicole, the woman said she had stolen them in 2005 during a visit to the ancient city, which was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Since then she had had breast cancer twice and misfortune had struck her family.

“Take them back, please, they bring bad luck,” she wrote. “I stole a piece of history that had lots of negative energy inside. People died in horrible ways. Bad luck played with me and my family.”