An Elderly Man Drove His Mercedes A-Class Down Rome’s Spanish Steps

Here’s one more for the “WTF” file. An elderly man attempted to drive his car down a famous monument in Rome, Italy, only to get stuck halfway down. As reported by the New York Times, the driver pointed the nose of his second-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class down the Spanish Steps at around 4 a.m. Tuesday morning. The man entered the steps at the top of the grade, near the Trinità dei Monti church, and navigated about halfway down before becoming stuck.

A Stunt Almost Worthy Of Hollywood

Sowad Mujibullah, an employee of a nearby hotel, recorded the incident after hearing a loud sound coming from the steps. According to the Times, he initially thought the Mercedes was part of a movie shoot before realizing there weren’t any cameras or crew around. Mujibullah’s video has been circulating, clearly showing the car creeping down what looks like the second flight of steps toward the terrace below. However, the A-Class hatchback became stuck partway down and had to be removed the next day by the local fire department via crane.

The Spanish Steps, which were constructed between 1723 and 1725, are a legendarily picturesque attraction in the city and have become almost synonymous with Rome’s artistic renaissance at the time. The steps have also attracted some big-budget movie stunts in the last few years, appearing in both Fast X and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, both of which saw the landmark damaged (through movie magic, of course) by baddies chasing the heroes. It’s not clear on which side of the battle of good versus evil the subject of our story identifies, however.

There Was No Damage To The Monument

Luckily for the driver, the Spanish Steps didn’t suffer any damage as a result of his partial descent. Local police who responded to the incident that morning said the 80-year-old man wasn’t under the influence of alcohol but that he did appear confused. Whether the driver was ticketed or cited with any infractions isn’t immediately clear. The car doesn’t seem to have suffered much for its trip down the monument, although images released by the fire department of it loaded onto the crane showed some damage to the rocker panels – which may have been pre-existing.

Related

A Porsche 911 Turbo Drag Racing In Wet Weather Is A Recipe For A Crash

An auto exhibition in The Netherlands saw some action this weekend, with one of the participants fishtailing into a wall during the drag race.

According to the New York Times, damaging or destroying a monument of significant value in Rome carries a penalty of $2,300 or more, although it seems the man may have avoided that fate. However, it’s not the first time the Spanish Steps have come under attack from a vehicle – in real life, not just the movies. In 2022, a Saudi American businessman on vacation in Rome took a wrong turn and entered the steps in his Maserati rental, damaging two of them. The driver in that incident was able to return to the top of the steps and continue on his merry way, although he was later tracked down thanks to the cameras that surround the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Source: New York Times

A-Class Generations