Greta Thunberg has landed in Italy And together with 36 activists, he colored the waters of Venice and Milan green

Crossing the Rialto Bridge in Venice for the first time is an unforgettable experience, especially if the canal waters are a fluorescent green color. Last Saturday, amidst crowds of astonished tourists and outraged law enforcement, young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and a group of thirty-six members of the non-violent Extinction Rebellion movement continued their fight against «ecocide» by dyeing the waters of the Grand Canal. Thunberg and other participants in the demonstrations were issued fines of 150 euros and 48-hour city removal orders. But, as we now know, a small penalty will not stop climate activists.

It wasn’t just Venice that saw its waters turn green, but also ten other Italian cities, including Padua, Trieste, Bologna, Taranto, Palermo, Genoa, and Milan. Armed with fluorescein - a compound that produces a fluorescent green solution when dissolved - they colored the water of the sea, rivers, canals, and even fountains in some of Italy’s most visited cities, a gesture that challenges the Italian Government and its «ecocidal policies».

The president of Veneto, Luca Zaia, condemned the act, posting a comment on social media: «[...] Another attack on the heart of our heritage takes place. I firmly condemn this latest blitz: the environment is not defended through acts of vandalism. These are actions that harm Venice, require restoration interventions, and, paradoxically, generate pollution.» The Grand Canal had already turned green two years ago, also at the hands of Extinction Rebellion, and fluorescein is actually a non-harmful organic compound.

In the days preceding the demonstration, Thunberg had attended a public assembly at the University of Verona where students from the Zanotti campus occupied the main hall. Regarding the demonstrations, Extinction Rebellion explained: «The slogan ‘stop ecocide’ denounces the government’s ecocidal policies and its lack of commitment to any concrete action to stop climate collapse. Italy, together with Poland, is the only European state to have opposed including the phasing out of fossil fuels in the draft agreement presented at COP30.»

The waters targeted by the Extinction Rebellion group are not random; they correspond to places already at risk or already affected by climate change. For example, the Tara River in Taranto was chosen because it is «heavily contaminated by the former Ilva plant and now threatened by the new desalination plant project,» activists told the local press. (Ilva is a steel plant that has caused damage to the Tara River and the sea into which it flows). «Dyeing these waters green means showing the world what awaits us if current climate policies continue,» added an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson.)