Tourists visiting the Trevi Fountain are now willing to pay more than the legendary coin tossed over their shoulder to take an Instagrammable selfie in front of one of the world’s most famous waterworks.
Starting Feb. 1, the city of Rome is charging tourists a 2-euro, or $2.35, fee to get close to the fountain during prime-time daylight hours. From the piazza above
, the view remains free for those admiring the late Baroque masterpiece.
The city is making efforts to manage visitor flows.
The tourist fee announced on Friday is part of the Eternal City’s efforts to manage visitor flows in a particularly congested part of the city.
improve the experience and offset the maintenance costs of preserving all of Rome’s cultural heritage.
Officials estimate it could bring in an additional $7.6 million per year for the city.
The fee, a topic of discussion and debate for over a year, mirrors the ticketing system at Rome’s Pantheon monument.
In such a situation, the city residents have been exempted from the fee. The same applies to Trevi, where a tourist tax and new 5-euro (or about $6) tourist ticket fees for some of the city’s museums are being introduced.
with plans to increase the number of free museums for registered Roman residents.
“We believe that culture is a fundamental right of citizenship,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said at a news conference. “We think it is right and positive that the citizens of Rome can enjoy our museums for free.”
At the same time, he said, the Trevi tourist fee is a minimum amount that should not discourage visitors but allow more organised travel.
The city decided to implement this after seeing positive results from a year-long experiment to restrict and limit the number of visitors accessing the basin edge in front of the fountain by imposing lines and entry and exit routes.
Gualtieri said about 9 million people have waited in line so far this year to get a closer look, with more than 70,000 passing through on some days.
This system now becomes permanent from 9 am to 9 pm, with non-residents having to pay a fee. Visitors can either pay in advance online while waiting in line, or they can purchase tickets at tourist locations around the city.
After nightfall, admission is open and free.
Pope Urban VIII initially commissioned the fountain in 1640. In 1730, Pope Clement XII revived the project and the current fountain matches the original design of the Roman architect, Nicola Salvi.
The giant fountain of the Titan deity features waterfalls cascading down travertine rocks into a shallow turquoise pool, where Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg famously took a nighttime dip in “La Dolce Vita”.
While bathing is prohibited nowadays, legend has it that visitors who toss a coin over their shoulders and make a wish are returned to Rome.
European officials have sought to curb overtourism. Residents protest: who says that the large number of tourists is making it difficult to live in cities?
Last year, Venice became the first city to do so, imposing tax on day-trip tourists A series of viral incidents
, including a woman climbing the Trevi Fountain fill his water bottle and a British man who Get his and his girlfriend’s initials engraved The issue also drew attention to the Colosseum.
Italian Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè said, “These tourists are also barbarians, because they have no respect for our cultural heritage, which belongs not only to Italy but to the whole world.”
In those days, “We have introduced a bill with a basic concept: You break it, you pay for it.”
