Two American tourists are fined £670 each after sneaking into Colosseum at night to drink a beer

Two American tourists have been fined £670 ($905) in Rome for illegally breaking into the Colosseum after closing hours.

The pair, who have not been named, had climbed up to the second ring of the arena to enjoy a beer with a view during the early hours of Monday.

The two were spotted at around 5.30am local time (4.30am GMT) by a passerby, who immediately alerted the Italian authorities.

Cops then found the two Americans on a main road, making their way back to the city centre.

A spokesperson for Rome’s carabinieri told CNN: ‘During the early hours of Monday morning some people noticed two young men drinking beer in the Colosseum, facing outwards on the second level. 

‘They alerted a police car nearby, which then stopped the two young men on Via dei Fori Imperiali.’

It remains unclear how the pair managed to break into the historic landmark, which before the pandemic was visited by around 25,000 people a day.

This is not the first time that tourists have been punished for misbehaving in Rome.

In September last year a 32-year-old Irish man was arrested by the carabinieri for carving his initials on the walls of the landmark.

The unnamed man carved two initials on a pillar inside the monument, using a metal point.   

In 2014, a Russian tourist was fined £16,827 ($22,600) for carving the letter ‘K’ into the Colosseum walls.     

The Roman amphitheater was built under the Flavian emperors, and its construction began sometime between 70 and 72 CE.

It was renowned for hosting fights between gladiators and wild animals, among other public spectacles, and seated crowds of around 50,000 people.