Several environmental activists this Sunday poured a black liquid into the water of the monumental Trevi Fountain, one of the symbols of the city of Rome, and unfurled a banner demanding an end to investments in fossil fuels.
The liquid thrown into the water of the monument is believed to be liquid charcoal, the same liquid used in other similar actions in the Italian capital, such as the Barcaccia fountain on the Spanish Steps, or the Fountain of the Four Rivers, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, on Piazza Navona.
A dozen young people took to the baroque jewel waters to warn that the “land is dying” due to the climate crisis and pointed to the floods in the Emilia-Romagna region, in northern Italy, that left 14 dead and 36,600 homeless. its consequences.
Police rushed to the scene to arrest them, entering the water to remove them one by one, while the tourists visiting the monument responded to the action with insults and ridicule.
Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, has called on social networks for an end to “absurd attacks” on the city’s artistic heritage, such as the mythical ‘Trevi Fountain’, which was demolished in 2015 after a year restored and cleaned. half the work.
“Today the Trevi Fountain has been destroyed. Its restoration will be costly and complex and we hope there will be no permanent damage. I invite activists to measure themselves in a field of debate without endangering the monuments,” Roberto asked Gualtieri.
The group “Ultima Generazione” (Last Generation) claimed the action on its Instagram profile, demanding the “blocking of government fossil fuel subsidies and focus on climate collapse” to which it is heading.
It is not the first time that these activists attack heritage with this kind of action.
On April 1, black paint was spilled on the historic Barcaccia Fountain, in Rome’s Spanish Steps, built between 1626 and 1629.
On March 17, two young men painted the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, the seat of the city council, with orange paint, after being arrested by the mayor himself, Dario Nardella.
In November 2022, soup was thrown on a painting by Van Gogh, at a temporary exhibition in Rome, and paint was smeared on “The Finger”, by Maurizio Cattelan, for the Milan Stock Exchange, as well as on the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II , in front of the cathedral, in the city.
Two activists are on trial in Vatican court for gluing the plinth of this statue of Laocoon in protest.
The Italian government has approved a bill that imposes fines of up to 60,000 euros or criminal sanctions against the perpetrators of vandalism against works of art, monuments or heritage.
Source: DN
