As the Trevi Fountain in Rome undergoes maintenance work, tourists now have an unprepossessing ‘Trevi pool’ into which they can toss their coins.
Maintenance work on the Trevi Fountain has led to the iconic landmark being temporarily drained. A less-than-impressive makeshift pool is in place for coin tossing.
Visitors keen to experience the tradition of tossing a coin into the fountain are instead casting their wishes over a low plastic barrier into a simple, plywood-framed pool set up in front of the fountain.
Ordinarily, coins tossed into the Trevi Fountain are collected after a few days and donated to Caritas, a Catholic charity that funds initiatives such as food banks and welfare programs in Rome. This tradition generates around 1.5 million euros annually, helping thousands in need.
Read: Trevi Fountain inauguration
Rome’s facelift for Jubilee 2025
The Trevi Fountain’s closure is just one part of a much larger facelift underway across Rome as the city braces for an influx of visitors expected during the 2025 Holy Year. Preparations include upgrades to Rome’s infrastructure to handle the anticipated 32 million pilgrims. The Holy Year, a major Catholic event, grants believers special indulgences. It is expected to strain the city’s already busy tourism sector.
As part of this monumental preparation, Rome has secured 1.3 billion euros in state funding. Further supplements come in the shape of 3 billion euros from EU post-pandemic recovery funds.
The whole of Rome is affected in someway or another. Piazza Venezia has been mostly closed to traffic as work progresses on the new Metro C line. A massive hydro cutter is excavating space for a future station near the Colosseum.
New control measures at Trevi Fountain
Officials are considering new crowd control measures at the Trevi Fountain. This includes a €2 fee for entry and a 30-minute visit limit.
As most visitors do not spend anywhere near 30 minutes at the fountain, this may be beneficial. Tourists are more likely to spend time looking at the sculpture in detail, rather than taking the obligatory selfie, chucking a coin or two in, then moving on to the next sight. Hopefully, there will be greater appreciation of what they are seeing. Time will tell.
In the meantime, the ‘Trevi pool’, basic and ugly as it is, will have to do for those who still wish to throw their coins in the fountain, and wish to return to Rome someday.
