Photo of ‘Scala dei Turchi’ in Sicily, Italy is falsely shared as Rainbow Mountain in Peru - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 31, 2022
A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming it to be the Rainbow Mountain from Peru. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Rainbow Mountain from Peru.
Fact: The photo is of ‘Scala dei Turchi’ (roughly translated to ‘Turkish Steps’), which is a rocky cliff in Sicily, Italy. Rainbow Mountain or Vinicunca is a mountain in the Andes of Peru which was discovered nearly seven years ago in 2015 when the snow covering it melted. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, a similar photo was found on the stock photo website, Alamy. According to the details given on the website, the location of the picture is, “Porto Empedocle, Italy”.
Upon searching for the image using relevant keywords, the photo is found to be of ‘Scala dei Turchi’ (roughly translated to ‘Turkish Steps’), which is a rocky cliff in Sicily, Italy. It is a natural rock structure that has a wave-like shape due to years of erosion. Unlike what’s shown in the viral photo, the cliff is white in colour and the surrounding sea is blue in colour. It is not as bright as the viral photo.
Peru is in South America and not North America. Rainbow Mountain or Vinicunca is a mountain in the Andes of Peru which was discovered nearly seven years ago in 2015 when the snow covering it melted. The mountain is located at an altitude of more than 16,000 feet above sea level, with no sea as shown in the viral post.
To sum it up, the photo of ‘Scala dei Turchi’ in Sicily, Italy is falsely shared as Rainbow Mountain in Peru.