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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