This material belongs to: The Guardian.
Graziano Cecchini, who pulled a similar stunt 10 years ago, was escorted from the scene by police.
An Italian activist has poured red dye into the Trevi Fountain 10 years after he pulled the same stunt.
Graziano Cecchini insisted that the dye wouldn’t harm the fountain and was intended as a protest against Rome’s corruption and filth.
According to witnesses, Cecchini managed to climb onto the side of the fountain and pour the dye in, turning the Trevi pool into a murky red lake. Police escorted him from the scene.
In a statement, Cecchini said the protest was a “cry that Rome isn’t dead, that it’s alive and ready to return to be the capital of art, life and Renaissance.”
Cecchini was also responsible for sending thousands of colored plastic balls down Rome’s Spanish Steps in 2008.
By Thursday afternoon, authorities had turned off the Trevi’s hydraulics and were draining the fountain pool to prevent any damage from the dye.
“Actions like this display ignorance and a total lack of civic sense,” said the deputy mayor, Luca Bergamo.
During Cecchini’s first red Trevi stunt in 2010, a right-wing group claimed responsibility and said it was to protest the cost of organising the Rome Film Festival. It said the red dye referred to the festival’s red carpet.
The 2017 edition of the festival opened on Thursday.
Rome’s Trevi Fountain runs red as ‘Renaissance’ activist protests city corruption
This material belongs to: DeathRattleSports.com.
It was not the first time the waters of Rome’s Trevi Fountain have bled. The Italian activist behind the stunt is a well-known repeat offender.
Tourists at the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy got a shock on Thursday after Italian activist Graziano Cecchini poured red dye into the water to protest against the city’s corruption.
Cecchini, whom police later detained, said his action was a “cry that Rome isn’t dead, that it’s alive and ready to return to be the capital of art, life and the Renaissance.”
Cecchini said the dye would not damage the fountain, one of Rome’s most visited tourist sites, but city officials later drained the 18th century fountain as a precaution after assessing it for damage.
“Acts like this demonstrate ignorance and a total lack of civic sense,” Deputy Mayor Luca Bergamo said.
A repeat offender
Thursday’s incident was not the first time Cecchini had gained international attention.
He had poured red dye once before into Trevi Fountain in 2007 ahead of the city’s international film festival. A right-wing group later claimed responsibility for the act, claiming it was designed to protest against the costs of hosting the festival.
The 2017 Rome International Film Festival opened on Thursday.
In 2008, Cecchini made headlines after he rolled 500,000 colored plastic balls down Rome’s Spanish Steps.
Water of Rome’s Trevi fountain turns red, thanks to an old man
This material belongs to: Economic Times.
ROME: The waters of Rome’s Trevi Fountain turned red on Thursday, after a man poured dye in the waters of the iconic water feature, for the second time in seven years.
According to local media reports, the culprit was stopped by a traffic warden and taken into custody.
On October 19, 2007, vandalism artist, Graziano Cecchini had claimed responsibility for a similar act that turned the waters of Trevi Fountain red.
The act was partially a protest against the cost of the Rome film festival, with red waters symbolising the red carpet.
Cecchini reasoned that a natural dye was used that wouldn’t harm either the public or the 18th-century marble fountain.
This year’s edition of Rome Film Festival opened on the same day, suggesting the stunt is a re-run.
