The letter was dated July 4 and addressed to the Rome prosecutor’s office, the mayor of Rome and “the municipality of Rome.”
The tourist who was caught on camera last month using his keys to etch his name and his girlfriend’s name into a wall of Rome’s historic Colosseum has written a letter of apology, saying he had no idea the nearly 2,000-year-old monument was so ancient, according to reports.
The man has been identified by his lawyer as 31-year-old Ivan Danailov Dimitrov, according to The New York Times.
Dimitrov wrote a letter which was published on Wednesday in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero.
“I admit with deepest embarrassment that it was only after what regrettably happened that I learned of the monument’s antiquity,” he wrote.
The letter was dated July 4 and addressed to the Rome prosecutor’s office, the mayor of Rome and “the municipality of Rome.”
"Through these lines, I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity," he also wrote in the letter.
“I am also aware that similar conduct in my country would have resulted in much more serious consequences,” Dimitrov wrote. “For this reason I accept all responsibility and will make sincere and concrete efforts to redeem myself and make up for the mistake I have made.”
Dimitrov said there’s no “justification” for the "incivility, superficiality and levity" of his actions. He closed the letter saying he's "hoping" his apology will be accepted.
Dimitrov could face up to $16,000 in fines and five years in prison.
It took five days for Italian police to trace Dimitrov back to England, Insider reported.
Dimitrov, a fitness instructor from Bristol, England, was seen using a key to carve "Ivan+Haley 23" into the historic site and went viral after the video was originally shared to YouTube, Insider reported.
Italy's culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, then shared the footage on Twitter on June 26 and said he hoped the vandal would be "identified and sanctioned according to our laws.”
“I consider it very serious, unworthy and a sign of great incivility that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world, the Colosseum, to engrave the name of his fiancée. I hope that whoever did this will be identified and sanctioned according to our laws,” Sangiuliano wrote on Twitter with the video.
