Climate activists in Rome turn waters of landmark Baroque fountain black

Activists from the anti-climate change organisation Last Generation poured a vegetable-based carbon liquid into the 17th-century fountain on Saturday

Police escorted the activists away from the fountain. The protest is part of a series of actions across Europe to focus attention on climate change

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A police officer removes an environmental activist standing in the fountain of Barcaccia in front of Rome’s Spanish Steps with black paint and a banner against fossil fuel. Photo: LaPresse via Zuma Press / dpa

Published: 3:33am, 2 Apr 2023

Climate activists in Italy turned a Baroque-style fountain at the foot of Rome’s Spanish Steps black on Saturday, in a protest they said evoked an “end of the world” scenario.

Three activists from the anti-climate change organisation Last Generation poured a vegetable-based carbon liquid into the landmark 17th-century fountain, known to Romans as La Barcaccia, before being escorted away by police.

The fountain, in the shape of a boat, was designed by famed Italian sculptor Pietro Bernini.

Popular tradition has it that he was inspired by the discovery in 1598 of a boat in the square after it was washed inland by a flooding Tiber river, Last Generation said.

Turning the water black “foreshadows the ‘end of the world’ scenario we are heading for, as we increasingly step on the accelerator: drought alternating with devastating floods, which will put an end to life on Earth, along with heatwaves”, it said in a statement.

Police detain an activist from the Last Generation environmental group at the Barcaccia fountain in Piazza di Spagna, Rome, Italy on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Last Generation began carrying out peaceful but disruptive protests in Italy last year ahead of the general election, urging politicians from all parties to make climate change their priority.