A man was chased by police after attempting to climb Rome's Trevi Fountain and

ride one of the ornamental horses.

A tourist, who wishes to remain anonymous, was waiting amongst the crowd in front of the fountain behind cautionary tape and captured the scene.

Video shows a man tearing through the tape and throwing water bottles into the fountain before jumping in and climbing the statues.

Police officers chased the man around the fountain for five minutes as crowds erupted into laughter.

The man was ultimately apprehended by Rome's municipal police and taken away.

The tourist, from Kosovo, said: "The guy made it pretty difficult for the officers to catch him."

"It took them about four to five minutes for the officers to get him whilst he ran around the fountain."

"They even had to turn off the water whilst he was up there."

"Every time he managed to escape, the crowd would laugh a lot."

"Some of the locals looked very unhappy though because it's an important cultural monument for them."

He added: "He didn't seem aggressive at all. He actually looked quite calm."

"He definitely wasn't looking to steal the money he picked up because he threw it all away."