Tourist headbutts gondolier in Venice ‘over a selfie’

Altercation was caught on video

A tourist and a gondolier got into a scuffle 'over a selfie' (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A tourist headbutted one of Venice’s gondoliers in a fight reportedly sparked by a selfie.

The incident took place on Venice’s Bareteri Bridge, which crosses one of the city’s canals.

A video of the scuffle shared online shows a male tourist squaring up to the gondolier, shoving him and even knocking his straw hat off.

He then headbutts him and punches the gondolier in the face.

A woman, who was part of the tourist group, is then heard shouting in Spanish to the gondolier: “Don’t touch him!” to which the gondolier replies: “I’m not touching him.”

The tourist later says: “I’m going to punch you so hard I’ll take your head off.”

According to local newspaper La Nuova di Venezia, the gondolier found the family sitting in a boat taking selfies. The fight broke out when he asked them to leave, it said.

Tourists filming the video from across the canal are heard shouting: “Stop it!”

The altercation goes on for almost a minute and a half.

It’s not the first case of tourists behaving badly in Venice.

In July, two tourists were fined €950 (£854) and ordered to leave Venice for making coffee next to the Rialto bridge.

The backpackers, a man and a woman in their 30s, were arrested by local police after a resident spotted them sitting on the steps using a camping stove.

City officials said the German pair from Berlin offended “the rules of public decorum and respect”.

Venice has long struggled under the weight of overtourism and is taking steps to reduce the number of visitors that land in its historic centre each year.

In August, the city announced that it would ban cruise ships from docking in central Venice, and would instead route them to terminals on outlying islands – although still within the archipelago.

This summer the city introduced an entry fee for tourists, which would soar to €10 on the busiest days.