An American tourist took a fall and was impaled on the spines of a sharp metal fence at the Colosseum in Rome on Friday. The unidentified man, a 47-year-old who reportedly lives in Taiwan, languished there before being rescued by local police; he had his spine pierced and required 80 stitches, according to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, which reports that he has been hospitalized in serious but stable condition. 

Dozens of tourists looked on as the man awaited rescue, bleeding profusely and screaming in pain until he lost consciousness. The incident occurred at about 5 p.m. local time. It took the ambulance crew 20 minutes to extract him from the fence after sedating him, after which he was transported to San Giovanni Hospital. He was unable to speak for hours after the incident. 

An iron gate at the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. Photo: Nikolay Korzhov / Alamy Stock Photo.

The man is believed to have been in Rome with family and friends for several days before the accident. Local police questioned him on Sunday. His friends, according to Il Messaggero, were unable to provide an explanation for the accident. 

Some 12.3 million people visited the Colosseum in 2023. With those numbers, mischief and mishaps are inevitable. That same year, a tourist was filmed etching a pair of names onto the monumental structure. Just weeks later, a teenage girl from Switzerland began carving her name onto a wall there. 

Il Messagero speculates that the man was trying to get the ideal view; other news outlets, such as the New York Post, surmise that he was angling for a selfie. A global study conducted in 2018 claimed that 259 people were killed seeking the perfect selfie between 2011 and 2017. In several incidents, selfie-seekers have destroyed artworks. A year ago, specialist insurer Hiscox reported a trend of selfie-taking visitors damaging valuable paintings, objects, and installations by walking into them backward.