A 39-year-old woman who badly damaged two 18th-century candelabra at Rome's ancient Pantheon monument was due to be sentenced by magistrates on Monday.
Police arrested the Romanian woman on Sunday after security guards intervened when she allegedly snapped off one of the three-metre high wooden ornaments' arms and damaged a second one.
The woman was charged with aggravated damage to objects of cultural significance and had no previous criminal record.
It was not clear if the woman had any motive for damaging the candelabra inside the 2,000-year-old Pantheon, a former ancient Roman temple that is now a church.
There have been numerous incidents involving damage to Rome's priceless monuments and Italy's culture minister Dario Franceschini earlier this year urged severer punishments for such crimes.
Francheschini has proposed that defacing or damaging Italy's cultural heritage and landscape be made a specific offence punishable with one to five years in prison.
His proposals came after a break-in at the Colosseum in January and graffiti found sprayed on a pillar of the recently restored 2,000-year-old monument, all in the space of a weekend.
In November, vandals broke off one of the tusks of 17th-century sculptor Bernini's renowned Elephant and Obelisk statue at Piazza Minerva near the Pantheon.
And in February last year, drunk Dutch football fans severely damaged Bernini's famous boat-shaped Barcaccia fountain at Rome's Spanish Steps.
