Activists strike at Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome.

Climate activists threw vegetable soup over a Van Gogh painting in Rome on Friday afternoon, according to Italian news reports.

The work, titled The Sower and protected by glass, is on display as part of a blockbuster exhibition at Palazzo Bonaparte in the centre of Rome.

The three activists, who entered the museum after buying tickets, are linked to the Ultima Generazione group.

After throwing the pea soup, they glued themselves to the wall under the painting, which dates to 1888.

Arthemisia, the company in charge of organising the exhibition, told AGI news agency that the Van Gogh work was not damaged.

A post on the Ultima Generazione Twitter page read (in Italian): "We act for the love of life, therefore the love of art! In a future where we will struggle to find food for everyone, how can we think that art will still be protected?"

Responding to the incident, Italy's new culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said: "Attacking art is an ignoble act that must be strongly condemned. Culture, which is the basis of our identity, must be defended and protected, certainly not used as a megaphone for other forms of protest."

The 50 works in the Rome exhibition, which includes a celebrated self portrait of Van Gogh from 1887 - three years before his death - come from the Kröller Müller Museum in Otterlo in the Netherlands.

Friday's incident is the latest in a series of actions undertaken by climate activists in Rome in recent months, from gluing their hands to the Laocoön at the Vatican Museums to regular road blocks around the capital.

In July climate protesters glued themselves to the glass in front of Botticelli's celebrated Primavera painting at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. There was no damage caused to the masterpiece.

Photo ANSA