
In Teheran during the Iran-Iraq war the fountains ran red to symbolize the blood of the martyrs. Neither the Italian Baroque nor the post-modern tourist are into self-sacrifice kitsch, but
blood in the water always makes for spectacle. Reminds me somehow of
the Goofy Sufi's essay on overcoming tourism. As perhaps the most popular public monument in the world, does the Trevi gain or lose
baraka from all these tourists? does it do so when the
blood of the martyrs red paint of the futurists runs through it?