Tourists Paid for a Fake Attraction for 20 Years (PHOTO)

Franco Malosso, a 69-year-old Italian, has been sentenced to prison for passing off a homemade structure as an ancient Roman amphitheater for 20 years, charging tourists €40 per ticket.

Franco Malosso, a 69-year-old Italian nicknamed 'von Rosenfranz', has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison for a long-running scam. Starting in 2005, he passed off a self-built structure as the ancient Roman 'Marine Amphitheater of Berico' on hills near Vicenza. Malosso claimed the amphitheater was exposed by a landslide, dated it to 393 AD, and invented legends about Julius Caesar and Cleopatra visiting. He charged tourists €40 per ticket. The local administration included the site in official guides and an EU app. The fraud was uncovered when carabinieri and archaeologists determined the 'ancient' amphitheater was made of fiberglass, papier-mâché, and plaster. Satellite images showed Malosso cleared the slope and built the fake. The court found him guilty of illegal construction and art forgery, fining him €3,000. The municipality of Arcugnano filed a civil lawsuit for €560,000.