Art News

Italian cops nab alleged vandal of famous fountain; "exemplary punishment" requested by Mayor

ROME (AP).- Police said Monday they had detained a man who confessed to knocking two chunks of marble off a statue in Rome’s famed Piazza Navona and of trying to damage the nearby Trevi Fountain. The suspect was picked up during a routine patrol near Piazza Navona late Sunday, a day after the vandalism took place, carabinieri officials told a press conference. Police noticed him because he was wearing the same white sneakers worn during the attack, images of which were captured by security camera footage. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno urged no clemency for the suspect, saying Italy must protect its artistic heritage with an “exemplary punishment.” The footage showed the man climbing in the Moro Fountain on the southern end of Piazza Navona early Saturday and repeatedly attacking the statue — one of four large faces at the edge of the fountain — with a large cobblestone and then walking away. The damage is on a 19