Vacationers pay a charge to entry the Trevi Fountain, in Rome, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026.
Roberto Monaldo/AP/LaPresse
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Roberto Monaldo/AP/LaPresse
ROME — Vacationers hoping to get near the Trevi Fountain needed to pay 2 euros ($2.35) beginning Monday as the town of Rome inaugurated a brand new charge construction to assist elevate cash and management crowds at one of many world’s most celebrated waterworks.
The primary vacationers to go via the brand new ticket verify appeared unfazed by the tariff, noting it was a small worth to pay for high quality entry to a fountain made well-known by Federico Fellini’s film “La Dolce Vita.”
“Before, there were problems accessing the fountain. There were a lot of people. Now, it’s very easy,” mentioned Ilhan Musbah, a vacationer from Morocco. “You can take photos, you feel good, you’re comfortable, and on top of that 2 euros is not much.”
The vacationer charge was rolled out at the side of a brand new 5-euro (practically $6) vacationer ticket charge for some metropolis museums. In each circumstances, Rome residents are exempt from the charges and the additional income will really broaden the variety of city-run museums which might be free for registered Roman residents.
It is all a part of the Everlasting Metropolis’s efforts to handle vacationer flows in a very congested a part of city, enhance the expertise and offset the upkeep prices of preserving all of Rome’s cultural heritage. Officers estimate it might internet the town 6.5 million euros ($7.6 million) additional a yr.
The town determined to impose the Trevi Fountain charge after seeing constructive outcomes already from a yearlong experiment to stagger and restrict the variety of guests who can attain the entrance fringe of the basin by imposing traces and pathways for entrance and exit.
“I think tourists were shocked by the fact that the city of Rome is only asking for 2 euros for a site of this level,” Alessandro Onorato, Rome’s assessor of tourism, mentioned Monday. “I believe that if the Trevi Fountain were in New York, they would have charged at least $100.”
The charge follows an identical ticketing system at Rome’s Pantheon monument and the extra difficult vacationer day-tripper tax that the lagoon metropolis of Venice imposed final yr in a bid to ease overtourism and make the town extra livable for residents. The Italian charges nonetheless pale compared to the 45% worth hike that French authorities introduced for the Louvre Museum for many non-European guests, the place tickets can now run to 32 euros ($37) from 22 euros ($26).
The Trevi charge, which may be paid prematurely on-line, allows vacationers to get near the fountain throughout prime-time daylight. The view for these admiring the late Baroque masterpiece from the piazza above stays free, as it’s up shut after hours.
The towering fountain options the Titan god Oceanus flanked by falls cascading down the travertine rocks right into a shallow turquoise pool, the place Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg famously took their nighttime dip in “La Dolce Vita.”
Whereas bathing is prohibited these days, legend has it that guests who toss a coin over their shoulders and make a want will return to Rome.
