Tourists do silly things to get a selfie. One tourist in Italy damaged a valuable painting. The man was visiting the famous Uffizi Gallery in Florence. This is full of priceless paintings. The man wanted a photo of himself in front of a portrait by an Italian painter who died in 1726. The man lost his balance and fell backwards. He tried to stop himself from falling, but he put his hand through the painting. Museum staff reported him to the police for causing damage to the painting. Experts are now repairing the painting. They say that there was not a lot of damage.
The tourist's careless action made people angry. The director of the Uffizi Gallery told a UK newspaper that selfies are now a headache. He said: "The problem of visitors coming to museums to…take selfies for social media is now out of control." He said the museum has strict rules to stop behaviour that does not respect Italy's culture and heritage. The director of Italy's Palazzo Maffei Museum commented on a similar incident that happened in her gallery. She said: "Sometimes we lose our minds to take a picture, and we don't think about the consequences."
Try the same news story at these levels:
Selfies - Level 0, Selfies - Level 1 or Selfies - Level 3
Sources- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14837713/Fury-Italy-tourist-tears-hole-18th-century-painting-posing-selfie.html
- https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/medici-portrait-damaged-by-tourist-at-uffizi-galleries-florence-1234745923/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5yky19623o
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