Plus, you might have to book a spot in advance to view the famous attraction
Rome may have finally reached breaking point…at least, as far as visitor numbers to its Trevi Fountain are concerned. That’s why the city council announced that it’s considering introducing an entry fee for the city’s iconic attraction in advance of the 2025 Jubilee.
“The situation at the Trevi Fountain is becoming technically very difficult to manage,” Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri told reporters yesterday.
Alessandro Onorato, speaking to Corriere della Sera gave more details about the idea and how that would work in reality. He announced that he would propose studying the option of providing limited, timed and pre-booked access to the fountain as the best way to manage the impact of overtourism and to ensure the preservation of the monument.
Prepare some extra coins before you chuck your coins in the waters
The 2025 Jubilee is a year-long Roman Catholic event expected to attract 32 million tourists and pilgrims. For comparison, in 2023, Rome welcomed nearly 7 million international visitors. This means that the Italian capital’s narrow streets will get a lot more crowded than they already are.
According to the officials, the visiting fees for the Trevi Fountain would not apply to Roman residents though. Visitors might expect to pay something like 1 or 2 euros.
Many people already “pay” when visiting the site since the most celebrated custom there is to throw a coin in the water as the saying goes this means you’ll once again return to the Eternal City. In fact, the city has a special service to collect the money from the bottom of the fountain, which purportedly comes up to some 3,000 euros a day.
The imposition of the fee, thus, has nothing to do with a need to fill Rome’s coffers but rather it’s a drastic way to implement better management of tourist flows.