Rome (EFE) Italian chaired by the far-right Giorgia Meloni.
The Council of Ministers, meeting this Tuesday, decided to impose fines of 20,000 to 60,000 euros, in addition to criminal sanctions, on anyone who “destroys, disperses, deteriorates, defaces, defaces or illegally uses” “totally or partially cultural property”.
“The attacks on monuments and artistic places cause economic damage to the community. Its cleaning requires the intervention of highly specialized personnel and the use of very expensive machinery. Those who carry out these acts must also assume their economic responsibility”, declared the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano.
The legislative project also provides for administrative sanctions of 10,000 to 40,000 euros for anyone who “disfigures or deteriorates” these assets or uses them “for a use that is detrimental to their conservation” or “incompatible with their historical or artistic character”, according to the text released by the local media.
The funds obtained with the fines to end the acts of eco-vandalism on works of art will be delivered to the Italian Ministry of Culture to allocate them to the “restoration of heritage”.
“According to the data provided to me by the Special Superintendence of Rome, the restoration of the Senate façade cost 40,000 euros, well, whoever damages must pay personally,” added the minister regarding the action of five ecologists on January 2, when they smeared the facade of the Italian Upper House with pink paint.
Other protests that affected heritage in Italy
The activists belonged to the group “Ultima Generazione” (Last Generation), which has claimed responsibility for numerous similar protests in other Italian cities.
On April 1, they poured black dye into the historic Barcaccia fountain in Rome’s Spanish Steps, built between 1626 and 1629, and unfurled a banner demanding to stop investing in fossil fuels.
Last November they threw soup at a Van Gogh painting from a temporary exhibition in Rome and stained with paint the “The Finger” by Maurizio Cattelan in front of the Milan Stock Exchange or the equestrian sculpture of Vittorio Emanuele II in front of the Duomo or cathedral of that city.
On March 17, two other young people stained the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, seat of the town hall, with orange paint, and the mayor himself, Dario Nardella, arrested them.
In addition, two activists are on trial in the Vatican Court for damaging the base of this Laocoön sculpture with glue in a protest and their sentence could range from one month in jail to three years and a fine of about 3,000 euros.