Drunk tourists attempt break-in at Colosseum.

Two Brazilian tourists suffered injuries after attempting to break into the Colosseum in the early hours of 16 January.

The pair managed to bypass the surrounding fence to scale a security gate, however the four-metre drop into the amphitheatre resulted in injuries for both tourists, with one fracturing his pelvis.

The tourists, who were aged in their 30s and admitted to being drunk, were charged with trespass.

Separately, graffiti was discovered on one of the Colosseum's pillars, on the section facing the metro station, with the words "Balto" and "Morte" (death) daubed in large black letters.

It is far from the first time that the recently-restored Colosseum has been vandalised by tourists, and the incident comes two months after the marble tusks were snapped off Bernini's elephant statue in Piazza della Minerva.