Italian police said Wednesday they
had identified the suspected vandals who allegedly stained famed
Sicilian beauty spot la Scala dei Turchi (Stair of the Turks)
with red powder on Friday night.
The white marn cliff near Agrigento was made even more famous as
a backdrop of several of Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano
stories.
Vandals smeared ferrous oxide powder on it on the night of
Friday-Saturday, staining it red.
The cliff has been put up by Italy for UNESCO world heritage
status.
Police said they had identified two men who were suspects in the
vandalism, an act they said was carried out as a protest against
police and 'the system'.
One of the two has already been convicted of vandalising the
Milan metro and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, as well
as the Punta Bianca white cliff near la Scala dei Turchi.
The red stains were washed off the Stair of the Turks on Monday
morning.
The beauty spot takes its names from the incursions of Saracen
and Barbary raiders, or 'Turks', in Sicily from the Middle Ages
onwards.
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