Police were called to Rome’s Ara Pacis Museum at dawn this morning to investigate an act of vandalism on the building’s extra-white exterior wall. The side of the building facing the Mausoleum of Augustus was splattered with red and green paint, taking on a semblance of the Italian flag, and a bidet and several super-size packages of toilet paper were placed on the ground below.
No official word on who’s responsible for the act, though all eyes are turned to futurist performer and artist Graziano Cecchini, who has previously left his mark on the city by dying the water of the Trevi Fountain red and dropping thousands of balls down the Spanish Steps. Cecchini remarked that he saw the painting on the Ara Pacis wall from afar and thought it a reminder of Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno’s promise (one year and one month ago) to tear down the building, the modernity of which he and many others find to be incompatible with the baroque and ancient surroundings.
Photos from La Repubblica
