Protesters throw paint on shopfronts in city centre.

Climate activists used orange paint to deface the windows of luxury fashion stores on an exclusive shopping street in the historic centre of Rome on Thursday morning.

Protesters from the Ultima Generazione group targeted the shopfronts of Bulgari, Prada, Cartier, Yves Saint Laurent and Armani on Via dei Condotti near the Spanish Steps.

The 13 activists, who held up banners reading "Reparation Fund", were insulted by Italian bypassers and filmed by bemused tourists before being carried away by police.

"These brands are symbols of an unsustainable lifestyle and are slaps in the face of poor people who struggle to make ends meet" - Ultima Generazione wrote on X - "What do we expect to happen when the climate crisis makes us even poorer?"

It was the latest blitz in Rome by the activists who earlier this week disrupted the Italian Open tennis tournament and defaced shops on the central Via del Corso.

The group is calling for a reparation fund of €20 billion "to support people who have suffered or will suffer in the near future damage from climate disasters".

Ultima Generazione has carried out a series of similar stunts in Rome and other Italian cities, with activists glueing their hands to artworks and dyeing the waters of historic fountains black to draw attention to the climate crisis.

In January the Italian parliament approved tough new penalties for those who damage or deface monuments and heritage sites, including fines of up to €60,000, as part of measures to tackle "eco-vandals".

Photo ANSA