The mayor of Venice has threatened badly behaved visitors with a night in prison after a drunken tourist jumped off the city’s famed Rialto Bridge and smashed into a passing water taxi.

The tourist, a New Zealander who lives most of the year in St Tropez on the Cote d’Azur, was reportedly drunk when he decided to hurl himself off the stone bridge, which spans the Grand Canal.

But instead of dropping into the water, he landed on a water taxi that was passing beneath the bridge at the time.

The force of the impact smashed the boat’s windshield and scattered broken glass across the prow.

The 49-year-old man, believed to be working on a yacht that was visiting Venice, not only badly injured himself but also hurt the driver of the water taxi. He was taken to a local hospital and treated for fractures and severe trauma.

Police said he was in a “serious but stable condition”. The authorities were conducting tests to ascertain whether the tourist was “under the effect of alcohol or drugs,” the police said.

When he recovers he will face charges of endangering public transport. His yacht was due to leave Venice on Monday. The incident happened just before midnight on Friday, in front of crowds strolling across the elegant stone bridge.