Environmental activists sprayed paint on Wednesday at the entrance to La Scala, the prestigious opera house in Milan.
Bright pink, electric blue and turquoise paint splashed onto the sidewalk as five Last Generation activists stepped in as the peninsula's media spotlight was trained on the famous opera house in preparation for the 'prima' gala evening which opens the season with the premiere of “Boris Godunov”.
Questa mattina abbiamo colorato con della vernice lavabile l'entrata del teatro, e abbiamo gridato a pieni polmoni quanto tutto ciò sia atroce e paradossale.
— Ultima Generazione (@UltimaGenerazi1) December 7, 2022
Two people unfurled banners that read "Latest Generation - No Gas and No Coal".
"We have decided to spray La Scala with paint to ask the politicians who will attend tonight's performance to stop playing ostrich politics and to intervene to save the population," said explained Last Generation in a press release.
"The economic and environmental situation is worsening day by day", continues the movement, evoking "the tragic situation of the Italian people, affected by the cataclysm of Ischia and betrayed by the indifference of the government".
A landslide, caused by very heavy rains on November 26 on the island of Ischia, killed 12 people.
The Head of Government Giorgia Meloni, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen are among the many personalities expected at this "prima".
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Calling attention to environmental disaster
Police quickly arrived on the scene and a cleaning crew from La Scala then cleaned the building with a hose and sponge.
Last Generation had used washable paint.
An employee cleans the doors of La Scala this morning.
AFP/Piero Cruciatti AFP or licensors
La Scala is the latest of the targets of Last Generation activists or the Just Stop oil collective in various European museums.
Their aim, they say, is not to damage the works but to draw attention to the ongoing environmental disaster and the indecisiveness of politicians.
Thus, for this, the "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer in a museum in The Hague, in the Netherlands, "Death and Life" by Gustav Klimt at the Leopold Museum in Vienna (Austria) or "The Sunflowers” by Vincent Van Gogh at the National Gallery in London (United Kingdom).
Last month, at an exhibition in Milan, they also floured a car repainted by Andy Warhol.
