Was the Trevi Fountain lit up for Pride? No, it was just an image from a poster

A promotional poster for an event was turned into purported photographic evidence. This is what happened on social media following the announcement of the Grafica Pride event, organized for Friday, June 19, 2026, from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.by the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica in Rome at the Palazzo della Fontana di Trevi.

The poster featured a depiction of the Trevi Fountain colored in the rainbow hues symbolizing Pride, a design choice consistent with the event’s title and the themes of inclusion and LGBTQ+ identities addressed during the evening. The program included the presentation of the book *Musei, genere e queerness*(Museums, Gender, and Queerness), featuring Fabio De Chirico, Viviana Gravano, and Annalisa Sacchi—dedicated specifically to the relationship between museums, gender, and queerness—as well as talks featuring voices from the queer community (L’amore che non osa dire il suo nome [The Love That Dares Not Speak Its Name] with Ilithyia Gothier and Céline Esprit) and a live DJ set, in addition to a “view of the Trevi Fountain,” as stated in the promotional post published on social media by the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, and the museum’s evening opening featuring art, music, and drinks. The Institute’s intention was therefore “an evening dedicated to inclusion, cultural dialogue, and voices from the queer community.” Neither the post nor the flyer mentions any light installation or any intervention on the famous Roman fountain.

In the hours following the poster’s release, however, comments and controversy erupted, as the image on the event poster was mistaken for an actual photo of the Trevi Fountain illuminated in rainbow colors for Pride. In short, it was fake news: there will be no rainbow lighting for the fountain. Nevertheless, the event at the Institute caused quite a stir.

The fake news appears to have arisen precisely from the overlap between a symbolic image and reality. Taken out of its promotional context, the graphic was interpreted as a photograph of a real event. The poster was real, the event was real, but the Trevi Fountain’s rainbow lighting existed only in the graphic used to advertise it.

The Institute’s director, Fabio De Chirico, also confirmed the false nature of the news. In response to a post about the circulating story, he wrote: “A clarification: no lighting was planned—something I could never have done without the consent of all the institutions—but I don’t know why the event poster was interpreted that way. Then [...] all sorts of things have been circulating online. In any case, respect and the public’s appreciation for an event that is purely cultural are our top priorities.”

Was the Trevi Fountain lit up for Pride? No, it was just an image from a poster

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