Standing in St Peter’s Square are two magnificent 17th century baroque fountains by architects Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Carlo Maderno, where the flowing water gives the square a glorious renaissance feel and makes them an ideal photo spot for tourists.
Not anymore. Thanks to a prolonged drought in Rome and across many parts of Italy, the Vatican on Monday (24 July) decided to turn the fountains off along with 98 others in the city state.
The Eternal City has been experiencing suffocating summer heat since the middle of June and the lack of rainfall has left authorities considering water rationing for Rome’s residents. Meteorologists have recorded just 26 days of rain in the first six months of the year, while in June and July more than 70 per cent less rain fell than normal.
Holy See spokesman, Greg Burke, said the Vatican’s decision was a way of “living in solidarity” with the city’s inhabitants but he added that authorities could not remember ever having to turn off the fountains before.
The move is also a case of Pope Francis practicing what he preaches on the environment. He’s been outspoken in urging world leaders to agree on reducing carbon emissions and wrote a landmark encyclical on protecting the planet, Laudato si’.
“This decision is very much in line with the pope’s thinking on ecology: you can’t waste and sometimes you have to be willing to make a sacrifice,” Burke explained.
PICTURE: A Vatican worker cleans one of the fountains in St. Peter's Square July 25 after the Vatican turned off the water in the fountain to prevent waste as Rome considers water-rationing plans in the midst of a drought
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