Italy plans hefty fines for vandalism to monuments, cultural sites

As it should, no reason for ancient works to be defaced.

Thank you for sharing.

This will stop (at least a repeat of the action) the tourist and others that will pay the fine out of their own pocket, but the rash of environmental activists are being funded with big money from outside groups and those organizations pay any fines that are levied against the protestor.

Only mandatory stiff jail time (along with the remediation costs and fines) is going to dissuade the individuals from these groups - yes, the outside groups will fund lawyers for them and may get them off, but enough of the activists will endure enough jail sentences for the others to realize there is going to be a preverbal pound of flesh taken for their actions.

To put it in perspective, take whatever cause you are ideologically aligned with and flip it around. Would you be ok for activists supporting the other side of the argument doing what these activists are doing (damaging historical artifacts, massively inconveniencing commuters, etc.) with what amounts to slaps on the wrist?

There is absolutely no excuse to go in and throw cans of soup on painting in museums, taking hammers to statues, gluing yourself to works of art, etc. just because you decided your voice wasn't being loud enough.