A site inspection was carried out by officials from the Agrigento cultural heritage sperintendence on Saturday after the site was defaced with red plaster powder the night before.
The superintendent’s technicians established that vandals used red iron oxide powder, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
The damage appears not to be permanent, as confirmed by the fact that waves have partially cleaned the lower part of the cliff.
Volunteers in Realmonte began cleaning the remaining marks on Saturday.
Luigi Patronaggio, the chief prosecutor of Agrigento, has started an investigation and ordered tests on the material used in order to trace recent sales of red powder in the area and, ultimately, the buyers.
Police are also looking for clues via video surveillance images.
The white limestone cliff is formed in the shape of a staircase, leading to its name which translates into English as the “Turkish Steps” or “Stairs of the Turks”.
The Scala dei Turchi has been at the centre of a protracted legal dispute between the municipality of Realmonte and a local landowner, leading Italian prosecutors to seize control of the site in February 2020.
In recent years, the cliffs have suffered from degradation, damaged by natural erosion and rock theft by tourists, amid claims of poor environmental preservation of the site.
The cliffs, which were put forward as a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status in 2019, are one of Italy’s most visited tourist sites and feature prominently in the Inspector Montalbano stories by the late author, Andrea Camilleri.
