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Trevi Fountain coloured red again (3)

Trevi Fountain coloured red again (3)

Man pours dye into iconic waters

Rome, 26 October 2017, 18:26

Redazione ANSA

ANSACheck

- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

-     ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Rome's iconic Trevi Fountain was coloured red for the second time in 10 years when the same man, anarchic artist Graziano Cecchini, poured dye into the famed waters where tourists toss coins to make sure they will return to the Eternal City. The man was stopped by traffic wardens who took him to a police office.
    Access to the fountain was cordoned off after the incident.
    Hundreds of curious tourists snapped photos and selfies while the police officers completed their work of putting up a perimeter around the fountain. On October 19 2007 the Trevi waters turned blood red after Cecchini threw paint into the basin in a bizarre act of vandalism apparently inspired by the Futurists of the early 20th century.
    Cecchini said his new "work" was called Pacta Servanda Sunt, Latin for "deals must be kept".
    Cecchini, 64, who made worldwide headlines with his first stunt, was charged with vandalism in 2008 but got off with a light sentence. Cecchini, 54, a former right-wing extremist, carried out his stunt, like today, during the Rome Film Festival, delighting tourists and enraging officials.
    "There's the red carpet, Valentino red and now red Trevi too," he said, adding that he was trying to raise awareness of the plight of Italy's casual workers.
    The dye assault was claimed by 'FTM Futurist Action 2007', a previously unknown group which said it aimed to turn this "grey bourgeois society into a triumph of colour".
    The baroque fountain is a tourist magnet and one of the symbols of Rome. Ever since actress Anita Ekberg frolicked in its waters in Federico Fellini's 1960 film classic La Dolce Vita, there has been a succession of tourists who have tried to do the same thing.
    Until now no one had ever changed the colour of its waters.
    Cecchini followed up the Trevi attack by sending about half a million coloured balls thundering down Rome's equally famous Spanish Steps on January 16, 2008.
    As tourists rushed about picking up souvenir balls, police quickly cordoned off the area and called in the municipal refuse collectors. They arrived a little later with large nets to scoop up the coloured spheres.
    Cecchini said the prank was a protest against the "balle" (balls, or lies) allegedly fed to a gullible public by politicians of all stripes.
    The self-styled 'activist artist' again got off lightly for "interrupting public services".
    He received a small fine for creating a mess in a public place and stopping buses and taxis running.
    Cecchini won several plaudits after his Trevi feat and appeared on a number of TV shows.
    One of his admirers was Milan's then culture chief, prominent art critic Vittorio Sgarbi.
    Sgarbi also liked the Spanish Steps balls, saying "anarchy is a typical feature of contemporary art".
   

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