Cultists with the group Last Generation decided to douse the Barcaccia fountain in central Rome with a black substance that turned its water black. The Barcaccia fountain is at the foot of the Spanish Steps and was designed by Pietro Bernini in 1629. According to CNN, the cultists were taken into police custody and, while there was no permanent damage to the fountain, stains from the substance the vandals used have left stains.

Last Generation and other like-minded groups are well known to have vandalized a number prestigious art works and monuments throughout Europe, including in Italy, since last year. The groups doing this claim their doing so is to raise awareness about climate change, but (despite the art work not being harmed) the best thing to come out of their doing this is that doing so only backfires on green cultist’s efforts.

German climate protestors from @AufstandLastGen threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting to protest the government's use of fossil fuels. The painting was covered in glass and wasn't damaged.
How do you feel about an act of civil disobedience like this?

— DW Global Ideas & Environment (@dw_environment) October 24, 2022

PHOTO CREDIT: By WikiRomaWiki – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=121628826