The water of the Grand Canal in Venice, near the Rialto Bridge, has been dyed fluorescent green this Sunday without the reason being known at the moment, for which the Italian Government delegate, Michele di Bari, called an urgent meeting.
The bright green stain appeared in the canal that connects Campo San Luca with the Grand Canal and little by little spread through the rest of the Venetian canals after the start of the Vogalonga, a regatta that has been held since 1974 and was born as demonstration to protect the city.
According to the newspaper La Repubblica, the substance that has dyed the water green does not appear to be toxic and could be the coloring of one of the liquids used to discover where there are leaks or used by speleologists.
The Veneto Environment Protection Agency (Arpav) is carrying out analyzes to verify what the liquid is made of.
The prefect of Venice called an urgent coordination meeting between the different police forces of the city to find out its origin and study the actions to be taken.
The Italian media pointed out that this episode recalls the initiative of the Argentine artist Nicolás GarcÃa Uriburu, who died in 2016 at the age of 79, who in 1968 had poured a fluorescent green liquid into the Grand Canal to protest against water pollution.
For the moment, no movement has claimed responsibility for this action and the ecological activists of the “Last generation” have also denied their involvement, who in recent days have thrown black paint into the water of the Trevi Fountain in Rome and other buildings and works of art to protest against lack of attention to climate change.
