After Botticelli in Florence, climate activists strike in the Vatican Museums.

Two climate activists linked to the Ultima Generazione group glued their hands to the base of the ancient Laocoön sculpture in the Vatican Museums on Thursday, with a banner reading "No gas and no coal".

Video footage of the stunt was posted on the Ultima Generazione Twitter page with the statement:

"In this statue we see Laocoon, the priest who tried to warn troians about the greeks' plot of the troian horse. He was ignored and Troy was conquered. Today activists are trying to warn humanity, but they are ignored and repressed just the same."

Climate activists from Ultima Generazione glued their hands to the base of the ancient Laocoön sculpture in the Vatican Museums today, with a banner reading "No gas and no coal".pic.twitter.com/tCuemD3Mu0

— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) August 18, 2022

There were no reports of damage to the masterpiece - known as Laocoön and His Sons or the Laocoön Group - which is believed to date to the first century BC and was excavated in 1506 on Rome's Esquiline hill.

The incident comes about a month after other climate protesters, also linked to Ultima Generazione, glued themselves to the glass in front of Botticelli's celebrated Primavera painting at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Their actions caused outrage on social media however there was no damage caused to the 15th-century painting which is considered a jewel of the Italian Renaissance.

Climate activists glued their hands to Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’ at the Uffizi in Florence today. No damage was caused to the Renaissance masterpiece thanks to its protective glass.pic.twitter.com/eXpFQe33a9

— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) July 22, 2022

The incidents in Italy follow a case earlier this year at the National Gallery in London where protesters from Just Stop Oil (JSO) attached their own "apocalyptic vision of the future" to Constable's Hay Wain painting before glueing themselves to its frame.