Ok -- or NOT -- to take small pebbles/stones from Rome's historic areas?

Of course they do.

It is difficult to tell with an untrained eye if that was simply a small stone used to cover the walkway or a chip off of an ancient ruin that might resolve ancient mysteries or might have cursed you. :-)

I think most of the discussion on this is where tourist picked up something that was easily identifiable as a carving or piece of pottery etc. and smuggled it home in violation of artifact preservation laws.

Next time you are in Rome, take them back and return them to the same area if it will make you feel better.

I tend to agree with Mark. If you picked up some pebbles on a walkway around the forum, chances are very slight that they have been lying there for a couple of thousand years. Now, if you were at an archaeological dig that was uncovering ancient ruins and picked up what looked like shards of pottery, that's a different matter. I have little pebbles/stones from many places in and around tourist sites that I am sure would not be considered bits of ruins, it just means something to me that I picked them up there. I will confess to picking up and taking home a small bit of volcanic rock from Mt Etna, which you're probably not supposed to do, but I do not lose any sleep over it (lock me up and throw away the key). On the other hand, if I see a sign that says do not take anything from the area, be it pebbles, vegetation, or anything else, I will not even try. You have to use your good judgement.

They are probably inconsequential, but if everyone did this there would be nothing left of the Forum.

On the other hand, what if they are missing fragments of the Forma Urbis marble map that scholars have been trying to re-assemble for centuries? Fragments are still being recovered from Forum excavations.

https://formaurbis.stanford.edu/docs/FURmap.html

( This is not a serious suggestion; Inrealize it is unlikely that fragments of the original are lying around on the paths. I just though people might like to know about this interesting project.

When we were in Corinth, Greece, the ground was littered with shards of pottery. We had no idea if they were ancient bits or modern. It would have been easy to pick one up and pocket it. But knowing how strict the Greeks are about the theft of any antiquity, we left the shards where they were. I did not want to spend time in a Greek prison for stealing any antiquities. Even in the US National parks it is not legal to take stones, etc. It is always a good policy to leave things as they are.

Thanks to each of you! Nancy, I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one who has considered small stones as great memory markers of the places I've been. My favorites are small stones and worn pieces of marble from the floor of the Ionian Sea where my grandfather swam as a boy in Greece. Sigh ... now I suppose I should check into the legality of keeping those as well? My Rome "collection" has four stones about an inch each. I'm leaning toward mailing them to the curator of the Coloseum/National Museum of Rome, just to be done with them and get them back to where they belong. Oy, what was I thinking? Appreciate your responses!

Take them back - a great reason to return to Roma.

And don't take anything else. (Judgment, can't help it.)

Pebbles, like other coverings, may be there to protect what is underneath.

I wouldn't loose sleep over it now but I'd certainly not do it again. The only time I've ever done anything similar was picking up two small rocks from the summit of Mount Vesuvius. I figured the Mountain would make more soon enough......

The old travel saying :

“Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints!”

― Chief Seattle

I would take them back but be sneaky about it! You don't want anyone thinking you're littering in the Forum!

We should all remember the Brady Bunch episode when Greg Brady took home the tiki in the lava rocks he found in Hawaii. He ended up mailing it back to Hawaii to stop all the bad luck he was having. LOL

Pilgrim, immediate flashback to that 70s Brady Bunch episode of Greg and the Tiki! Thanks for your input, everyone. I'm on it!