Climate activists have targeted Botticelli's famed Birth of Venus painting as they stuck pictures of flooded towns on the glass protector at the Uffizi museum in Florence.
Two activists from Last Generation posted images of a flooded Tuscan town over the goddess' giant shell on the 15th-century art work, before being escorted to a police station, the campaign group said in a statement.
'The government continues to pretend that fields did not burn in January, that water will not be a problem this summer, that houses destroyed by floods are accidental events and not caused by human choices,' one of the protesters, Giordano, was quoted as saying.
'And instead of dealing with these real problems, it makes absurd laws' punishing climate activism, he said.
Italy's parliament in January approved a law increasing penalties for people who damage monuments and cultural sites, following a series of climate protests.
'We ask the government to take concrete action to support communities affected by climate disasters. They can censor us, but they cannot censor reality,' the Italian branch of Last Generation wrote on X.
On a fundraising page to cover 'legal fees, travel and accommodation costs' for their activists, Last Generation reacted to the new law by writing: 'Despite the "ecoprotest" law, despite precautionary measures, despite increasingly grotesque oppression, we do not stop and continue to take actions.
'We continue because there is no justice for the victims of landslides and floods [...].
'We demand that the government takes responsibility for caring for the victims of these disasters [in Campi Bisenzio and Emilia-Romagna]. To seek justice, we accept the legal risks.'
Eco-vandals in Italy could now be fined up to £50,000 under the new bill. The law aims to stop such protests, giving officials the power to levy fines of between 20,000 euros (£17,000) to 60,000 euros (£50,000).
