Rome’s Trevi Fountain Dyed Black By Protestors After Floods Grip Northern Italy

Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain has fallen as the next victim in a rising onslaught of famous paintings and monuments used as soapboxes for activists to garner attention from the public and governments. After devastating floodings gripped the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, activists have taken to dyeing the fountain black to call attention to the worsening climate change wracking through the nation.
 
The dye was made out of diluted charcoal and poured into the waters of the Trevi before the protestors from the Ultima Generazione group waded into it, holding up signs that called for the halting of fossil fuel usage. Luckily, no permanent damage had been done to the site. Police were quick to the scene before arresting the group.

A statement from the group mentioned that monuments in Emilia-Romagna were the first to experience real damage after a 36-hour-long storm killed over a dozen people and left 36,000 citizens homeless. The rainfall’s reach has also destroyed the infrastructure and agriculture of the region, museums in the area have flooded, and the ancient Abbey of Santa Maria del Monte has also collapsed.
 
“I’ve decided to do civil disobedience because the horrible tragedy experienced in Emilia Romagna is a warning of the dark future that awaits humanity, made up of drought alternating with increasingly frequent and violent floods,” activist Mattia from Ultima Generazione said. “The only way to prevent this from happening is to stop emissions related to fossil fuels. Our Government, on the other hand, continues undaunted to give the fossil fuel industry public funding for tens of billions of euros every year.” 

So while the Trevi can be salvaged, the group quickly pointed out that if no real change is made, then other historical sites and artifacts in Italy will soon follow. In April this year, a similar stunt was pulled at the Barcaccia Fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps in Rome.
 
The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, spoke about the incident in a Facebook post and said that the charcoal had not stained the fountain. Still, almost 80,000 gallons of water will have to be thrown away, and a series of complex cleaning operations would need to take place to restore it.
 
 

[via Robb Report and Euronews, images via Ultima Generazione]