Last Friday, October 19th, an anarchist group calling themselves "FTM Futurist Action 2007" dyed the Trevi fountain red. The action took place when an unidentified man dumped a box of the red dye at a strategic location. After officials turned off the fountain and restored the flow of clean water a box full of leaflets was found from the group explaining that they aim to wage war on "everything and everyone with a spirit of healthy violence" and to turn this "grey bourgeois society into a triumph of color." The protest was against the Rome Film Festival and the excessive amount of money spent on the event.
The fountain was not damaged in any way, so no official investigation will be brought about to prosecute the group in question. Personally I think the fountain looks pretty good with the bright red water; the contrast of the red and the white marble is an interesting visual effect.
