Which country issues the most fines to travellers?

That has to be Italy, which has several laws that seem designed specifically to catch out unsuspecting tourists.

Since 2018, the fine for sitting on Rome's Spanish Steps, as thousands of footsore tourists have, is €250.

Late in 2019 a pair of German backpackers were fined €950 for making coffee on the steps of a quay in Venice while a pair of Czech tourists were fined €3000 each for "obscene acts" when they were caught skinny-dipping in the canal near Venice's Piazza San Marco. A dip in Rome's Trevi Fountain? That's €450.

But the fine that catches most tourists out in Italy is failure to validate their train ticket.

It's not enough to buy a ticket for the train you're taking, since train tickets are undated you need to validate it for the time and date of travel by inserting the ticket into one of the machines found on train platforms.

If not, the on-the-spot fine is €50. No need to validate e-tickets since they have a specific date and four-hour time window in which they can be used.