A banner with the words “Ultima Generazione No Gas No Carbone” held in the hand by three young Italian environmentalists seated on the ground in the Sala Botticelli of the Uffizi Gallery. This morning around 10.30 the tourists, in addition to the works on display, involuntarily witnessed a peaceful protest carried out by a man and two women of Italian nationality.
Before sitting down for, the three young people applied glue to the glass that protects the “Primavera del Botticelli”, then affixing their hands to it. However, no damage was done to the work of art. “If there had not been the special protections decided for the main masterpieces of the museum a few years ago by the management, today we would have had an important damage to the work, as happened recently in other museums”, says the management of the Gallery in a statement.
The three demonstrators were removed from the Gallery and taken to the CC Uffizi Station offices, where their identification is still in progress. A complaint will be issued against them for interruption of public service, resistance to a public official, unauthorized demonstration and defacing or soiling of things.
However, this initiative does not seem to be the result of an episode with a single organization but would be part of a wider international protest set up by climate activists. A similar banner had in fact also appeared on Sunday 17 July during the Puccini Festival, exhibited by no gas activists in protest against the Piombino regasification plant.
At the National Gallery in London, on the other hand, according to press reports, at the beginning of the month two Just stop oil activists had ‘stuck with their hands to the frame, slightly damaging it, of a painting by John Constable, The Hay Wain.
For the three latest generation activists who were protagonists of the blitz at the Uffizi, the police headquarters of the Tuscan capital, through its anti-crime police division, has arranged leave sheets from Florence for three years. The measures are being notified by the carabinieri, who intervened at the museum, dismissing the three activists who were then denounced.