Dario Nardella, the mayor of Florence, Italy, is being hailed a Superman-type hero for leaping into action to stop climate activists from defacing the Palazzo Vecchio, a historic building that includes Florence’s town hall.
Nardella reportedly intervened when several male activists began spraying the notable building with orange paint.
Video shows Nardella grabbing the arm of an activist who was pointing a large fire extinguisher-type paint spray gun toward the building. He stopped the man from defacing the structure, pushed the man away from the building and put the spray gun on the ground. Nardella later apologized for yelling at the activist: “What the f___ are you doing?”
Several police officers quickly responded as bystanders shouted for help. Video shows one officer restraining the hands of the man the mayor stopped from vandalizing the building.
The mayor happened to be at the site and conducting an on-camera interview when the activists began defacing the building.
When Nardella realized what was happening, he quickly leapt to action to stop the vandals, who were later detained by police and identified as men aged 23 and 32.
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Police noted the men had ties to Ultima Generazione (Last Generation), a group known for blocking traffic and defacing historical buildings and works of art to “raise awareness of the climate crises.”
Recently, Ultima Generazione took responsibility for spray painting the statue of “Vittorio Emanuele II” in front of the Duomo cathedral in Milan.
In recent months, the group has thrown flour on Andy Warhol’s art in Milan and pea soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting in Rome.
The group also made headlines when several members glued themselves to the protective glass in front of Botticelli’s “Primavera” at the Uffizi Gallery.
Modeling good citizenship, after police placed activists into custody, Nardella joined efforts to clean the building.
A picture profiling the clean-up work is captioned: “The attack on art, culture, and beauty, which are helpless in the face of violence and which are created for the good of humanity can never justify the battle for a cause, even the most acceptable.”
Many have praised the mayor’s actions.
“Nardella is actually Clark Kent,” one supporter wrote. “BatNardella!!!!” wrote another.
The next day, Nardella wrote: “I acted on instinct. As mayor, I love Florence not only with my head but with my heart, and this time the heart prevailed, the impulse reaction prevailed.”
“The instinct of a father or mother of a family who thought only of defending everyone’s home, Palazzo Vecchio.”
Regarding climate activists’ vandalism, Nardella wrote that the “climate emergency cannot be waged by attacking everyone’s heritage. Caring for the planet and caring for art are two cornerstones of our existence.”
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