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24-12-2024
ROME: Rome’s world-famous Trevi Fountain has re-opened after a three-month restoration.
Built in the 18th Century by Italian architect Nicola Salvi on the façade of the Poli Palace, the historic fountain is one of the city’s most visited spots.
Between 10,000 and 12,000 tourists used to visit the Trevi Fountain each day, but a new queuing system has been installed to prevent large crowds massing near the landmark.
Speaking on Sunday Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri said imposing the limit will “allow everyone to better enjoy the fountain, without crowds or confusion”.
Gualtieri also said city authorities were considering charging a modest entry price to finance the fountain’s upkeep.
Sunday’s re-opening took place under light rain in the presence of several hundred tourists, many of whom followed the mayor by throwing a coin into the fountain.
The three-month cleaning project involved removing mould and calcium incrustations.
The fountain and other key city sites have been cleaned ahead of the jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church which begins on Christmas Eve.
Its poor structural condition was exposed in 2012 when bits of its elaborate cornice began falling off after an especially harsh winter which required a multi-million euro renovation the following year.
Making a wish and tossing a coin into the water is such a tradition that the city authorities used to collect around €10,000 (£8,300; $10,500) a week.
The money was donated to a charity that provides meals for the poor.
It is the end point of one of the aqueducts that supplied ancient Rome with water.
The Acqua Vergine runs for a total of 20km (12 miles) before flowing into the fountain.
According to legend, the water source was discovered in 19 BC by thirsty Roman. soldiers directed to the site by a young virgin – which is why it is called Virgin Waters.
The tradition of throwing coins into the fountain was made famous by Frank. Sinatra’s. Three Coins in the Fountain in the 1954 romantic comedy of the same name.
On Wednesday, Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said measures to curb tourist numbers were “a very concrete possibility”.
The city was looking at a handful of possible solutions, he told reporters. “We’ve decided to study and investigate this because the situation is becoming technically very difficult to manage,” he said. “Local police officers tell us this all the time: there is a concentration of people that makes adequate protection of the monument difficult and is also often a source of degradation.”
The Trevi fountain has become the latest flashpoint as officials across Europe wrestle with the impacts of overtourism. In Greece, authorities have implemented a time-slot system for the Acropolis to ease congestion at the Athens site, echoing a strategy already in place at Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica. In Venice, long the continent’s dominant symbol of overtourism, local authorities have experimented with an entry charge for visitors.
The conversation in Rome has taken on renewed importance as the Eternal City gears up for the 2025 jubilee, a year-long Roman Catholic event that is expected to draw more than 30 million tourists and pilgrims to the city.
Officials in the city have long had to intervene to protect the Trevi fountain from tourists. In 2017 it began imposing fines for bad behaviour at the site, including a crackdown on those who seek to frolic in the water in hopes of recreating Anita Ekberg’s scene from La Dolce Vita. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
