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CLIMATE CRISIS

Why are protesters glueing themselves to Italian artworks?

Environmental group Ultima Generazione has staged a series of controversial demonstrations over the past few weeks. But why are artworks involved?

Ultima Generazione activists demonstrating inside Rome's Vatican Museums
On Thursday, August 18th, two Ultima Generazione activists glued their hands to the statue of Laocoön and His Sons in Rome’s Vatican Museums. Photo by Alessandro Pugliese

On Thursday, two people made headlines after they glued their hands to a statue in Rome’s Vatican Museums – the statue of Laocoön and His Sons – and unfolded a banner reading ‘No Gas, No Coal’.

This was only the latest in a series of demonstrations staged by environmental group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation), who have regularly featured in the news for more than two months now – usually after glueing themselves to one of Italy’s famous artworks.

In July, activists from the same group stuck their hands to the glass protecting Botticelli’s Primavera at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery.

The group began protesting by staging sit-ins on Rome’s Highway A90 (commonly known as ‘Grande Raccordo Anulare’) in early June, but has since moved on to target public museums and galleries – though the significance here is less obvious.

On the back of the latest protest, many wondered what exactly the link was between the environmental cause and the famous artworks involved.

Ultima Generazione began in 2021 as a “campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience” aimed at uniting Italian campaigners concerned about climate change and the future of the planet.

The name Last Generation stems from its members’ belief that the current generation of world citizens is the last one with a real chance of changing the status quo before the ecological damage inflicted on our planet becomes irreparable. 

READ ALSO: Water levels on Italy’s Lake Garda drop to 15-year low as drought continues

According to the group’s website, they have two main demands. Firstly, they ask that the reopening of old coal power plants be paused immediately and that all scheduled fracking operations be cancelled. 

Secondly, they want an increase in the use of solar energy and wind power equivalent to at least 20 gigawatts. 

After the Uffizi protest, the group published a note explaining the reasons behind their association with the art world.

They said that “the country should see to the protection and wellbeing of the planet […] in the same way in which it defends its artistic patrimony”.

Aside from the above connection, Ultima Generazione activists have also been known to draw specific parallels between popular artworks and the current socio-political climate. 

READ ALSO: Will summer 2022 be Italy’s hottest ever?

For instance, the statue of Laocoön and His Sons was targeted earlier this week because, the group explained, much like Laocoön, scientists and activists looking to warn the public about the “consequences of today’s actions” are not being listened to or, even worse, “they are being silenced by politicians”. 

For the sake of context, according to Greek mythology, Laocoön was the Trojan priest who advised his fellow citizens not to let the wooden horse – a gift from the Greeks – into town. His advice was disregarded and Troy later fell at the hands of the Greek soldiers hidden in the horse.

It isn’t clear when or where the next Ultima Generazione demonstration will take place, though, back in July, the group said they would target museums in Florence, Venice, Milan and Rome.

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VENICE

Italian scientists predict parts of Venice will be underwater by 2150

New research by Italian scientists estimated that large areas of Venice including the famous Saint Mark’s Square will be submerged by 2150 due to rising sea levels and the city’s sinking foundations.

Italian scientists predict parts of Venice will be underwater by 2150

A new study carried out by scientists at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) found that tide levels in the Venetian lagoon are rising at a rate of approximately half a centimetre per year on average. 

Researchers predicted that the rise will result in some areas of the main island being permanently underwater by 2150, with Saint Mark’s Square forecast to be constantly submerged by 70 centimetres of water. 

The exact increase rates weren’t the same across the lagoon, with figures ranging from 4.22 millimetres at the Venice Lido to nearly 6 millimetres in Chioggia, in the southern section of the lagoon.

The study, which combined records from Venice’s tidal centre with satellite data on land subsidence, also concluded that the western side of the city, which includes the Santa Croce, San Polo and Dorsoduro districts, will be among the worst-affected areas.

INGV researchers pointed to rising sea levels in the Venetian lagoon as being emblematic of a wider phenomenon registered across the entire Mediterranean sea, whose levels have increased by some 18 centimetres since the beginning of the 20th century.  

“Sea level increase, particularly if accelerated locally by subsidence, is leading to increasingly severe and widespread coastal erosion, beach retreat and marine flooding with very significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts for populations,” INGV researcher Marco Anzidei said.

READ ALSO: Italy to suffer ‘exceptionally hot’ temperatures this summer

Venice has experienced increasingly frequent severe flooding in recent years as the city was hit by some 58 high tides (acque alte) of 110 centimetres or more between 2019 and 2023 – more than twice the number recorded between 2009 and 2013.

A 187-centimetre acqua alta – the second-highest tide in Venice’s history – caused the death of two people and hundreds of millions of euros in damage in November 2019.

A long-planned system of mobile barriers aimed at protecting the city from high tides became operational in late 2020 and has since been activated on over 80 occasions. 

But the MOSE sluice gates, which are placed at the lagoon’s main entry points and raised whenever high tides hit, have long been criticised by experts as just a short-term fix to rising sea levels.

READ ALSO: ‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

A 2021 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted a rise in the mean regional sea level of 28-55 centimetres by 2100 in their most optimistic scenario, and 63-101 centimetres in the worst-case scenario.

Experts have forecast that, in either case, the barriers will have to be raised so frequently that they will endanger the survival of Venice’s port industry and the lagoon will gradually turn into a marsh, which may ultimately result in the loss of many local wildlife species.

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