By Benjamin Parker The Independent – Tourists who destroyed an Italian sculpture valued at €200,000 have been denounced as “imbeciles” by the country’s deputy prime minister, with a local politician demanding reparations for their actions.

A group of 17 tourists were renting a villa in the town of Viggiu, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, when the damage to the 150-year-old artwork occurred – and was captured on CCTV.

Two of the group climbed into the fountain to wrap their arms around the sculpture, Domina by the artist Enrico Butti, while another pushed it with a stick before it crashed to the ground.

Bruno Golferini, the manager of Villa Aleco, told Reuters that he had reported all of those staying to the police, though they have since left Italy.

“When we realised it, it was too late,” Mr Golferini told Italian news station TGCOM24. “The boys did not respect the ban on entering the fountain and were filmed by video surveillance cameras while two of them embraced the statue, dropping it and destroying it, while four of their comrades shot videos with their cell phones.”

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