UK tourists caught entering Rome fountain naked.

Six drunk British tourists – four men and two women – face charges for skinny dipping in the Fontana delle Naiadi in Piazza della Repubblica at dawn on Sunday 27 September, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

The drunken behaviour of the tourists – aged between 25 and 49 – occurred at around 06.00 and was reported to police by numerous bystanders. The tourists were fined €169 each for entering the fountain's waters and now face charges of engaging in obscene acts in a public place. The visitors are believed to be architects and environmentalists, from Gloucestershire, who were in Rome to attend a conference.

The incident is the latest in a string of cases involving tourists behaving badly in Rome in recent months.

During the summer Bernini’s 17th-century Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona was the scene of illicit late-night bathing while, despite warnings and negative press coverage, a handful of tourists continue to vandalise the Colosseum by carving their initials into the ancient amphitheatre.