Reason behind Venice's Grand Canal turning fluorescent green revealed

Italy's fire department said overthe weekend that the authorities are working to find out why the waters in Venice's main canal turned fluorescent green on Sunday in the area near the Rialto bridge.

The department said in a tweet that the regional environmental protection agency was working to identify the substance that changed their colour.

The green water painted an eerie picture of the spectacular city of Venice — one of the most famous tourist spots across Europe.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Now the reason has finally beenrevealed.Local authorities said on Monday that the transformation was due to fluorescein, a non-toxic substance used for testing wastewater networks.

The Regional Agency for Environmental Prevention and Protection of Veneto (Arpav) said that the analysis showed "the presence of fluorescein in samples taken".

Watch this report:

The agency didn't reveal from where the substance originated as it added that the results "have not shown the presence of toxic elements in the samples analysed".

This is not the first time that the Grand Canal has turned green. During the 34th Venice Biennale in 1968, Argentine artist Nicolas Garcia Uriburu painted the waters of Venice's Grand Canal green with a fluorescent dye in order to raise environmental awareness.

Climate-related protests in Italy

There were a few incidents when environmental groups protested against the climate crisis by colouring monuments In Italy, such as using vegetable charcoal to make the waters of Rome's Trevi fountain black in protest of fossil fuels.

Earlier this month, seven young activists protesting against climate change climbed into the Trevi Fountain in Rome and poured diluted charcoal into the water to turn it black.

The protesters from the "Ultima Generazione" ("Last Generation") group held up banners saying "We won't pay for fossil (fuels)," and shouted, "Our country is dying".

Viral videos showed that uniformed police waded into the water to remove the demonstrators, with several tourists photographing the incident.

Ultima Generazione issued a statement calling for an end to public subsidies for fossil fuels and linking the protests to recent tragic floods in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. According to the organisation, one in every four dwellings in Italy is at risk of floods.

Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri condemned the protest. "Enough of these absurd attacks on our artistic heritage," he wrote on Twitter.