Climate Activists Dye Landmark Roman Fountain Black

Climate change activists are sounding the alarm about the grave future the planet is facing. In 2022, the “Just Stop Oil’ group made headlines throwing tomato soup and potatoes at famed oil paintings at museums and gluing themselves to the walls. In Italy, Ultima Generazione, translated to “Last Generation,” has started to rally the streets and they have set their sights on statues and fountains to make a point.

On May 6th, activists wearing orange vests stood in the deep water of Rome’s iconic Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) to protest the state of water by releasing a charcoal-black liquid into the fountain painting the water black. The group proclaimed “Our future is as black as the water. Without water, there is no life and with rising temperatures, we are exposed to drought on the one hand and floods on the other.” Police quickly dragged the activists out of the fountain. 

The city’s mayor took to Twitter to voice his frustrations saying that this was "another senseless gesture defacing the monuments of Rome.” He continued by saying, "It is not by putting the artistic heritage at risk that the environment is saved!" He ordered that the fountain be cleaned quickly and checked for any permanent damage.

This incident follows a recent string of climate change attacks with similar action being taken at “Fontana della Barcaccia,” at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome. The activists used a vegetable based carbon liquid to turn the water black. 

In response to these attacks on artwork and historic buildings, Italy has proposed a bill that would punish vandalism with a hefty fine. In April, the Italian Culture Ministry proposed that anyone caught vandalizing monuments, buildings, or public artwork would face a fine between €10,000 and €60,000 EUR ($11,000 to $65,000 USD).

Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano believes that the protestors should pay for the damages and cleanup from their own pockets. In a statement he said, “As I have explained many times, these are acts against the environment which they claim to want to defend because the notion of landscape includes what beautiful things over centuries of history human genius has produced.” He followed by saying, ““Experts talk about anthropization of the environment. Now again, a lot of water will have to be used to clean up and costs incurred to restore the state of the monument – and (paying for it) will be Italian citizens.”