Rome floats plan to charge tourists at Trevi Fountain
After yet another summer of overtourism woes in Italy, officials in Rome are considering new measures to limit crowds at the Trevi Fountain, one of the country’s most famous sites.
Alessandro Onorato, a tourism councilor for Rome, said in an email to The Washington Post that the government wants to implement a timed ticket system to access the basin of the fountain, “a monument that needs to be protected and preserved.” The ticket would be free for Romans and a “symbolic price” of 1 or 2 euros for travelers.
“We want to make a visit to the Trevi Fountain truly a unique and serene experience, without shoulder-to-shoulder with other tourists or pushing our way in,” Onorato said. “And we also want to prevent visitors from eating on the steps, a sandwich or an ice cream, or worse, from jumping into the water.”
Reuters reported that Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said such a plan was a “concrete” possibility and that Italy’s tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, was open to a program for controlling visitation at the fountain similar to that at the Pantheon. The Italian Culture Ministry debuted a 5-euro ticket system at the Pantheon last year.
Tourism hit record numbers in Italy in 2023, and the country’s popularity shows no signs of waning. Next year, the Vatican is celebrating a “Jubilee” year, which takes place every quarter-century. The 2025 Jubilee is expected to bring an additional 30 million pilgrims to Rome, the Associated Press reported.
The impending influx “does make it worth considering some way to control the crowds,” said Kathy McCabe, host of the travel show “Dream of Italy” on PBS.
McCabe has fond memories of visiting the Trevi Fountain decades ago when there were, at most, a few handfuls of people appreciating the baroque masterpiece. Today, it’s a different experience, with masses of tourists crammed around the perimeter jockeying for a view or selfie.
McCabe says the fountain, like the name of her show, represents the dream of Italy, “of what it once was and what we hope it would be,” she said. And at the same time, it’s the reality of Italy: a place struggling to cope with its immense popularity.
She’s conflicted about crowd mitigation measures but understands where city officials are coming from.
“Maybe it’s something they could just do in the high season,” she said. “But like in many places across Europe, almost every month is high season now in Rome.”
Unlike the Pantheon - a former Roman temple that visitors now pay to go inside - the Trevi Fountain is an open-air destination nestled in the meeting of three roads that melds into the neighborhood. Critics of the proposed ticketing system say cordoning off the fountain would be disruptive.
“Moving through the streets is already so unpleasant due to the numerous bottlenecks,” said Katie Parla, a Rome-based author and tour guide who has lived in the city for more than 21 years.
She added, “I don’t think that visitors or locals will benefit from constricting a very, very intensely trafficked part of the city.”
Flavio Scannavino, general manager of the Hotel De’ Ricci, located about a mile from the Trevi Fountain, agrees that it’s difficult to get around the city during high season because of the throng of visitors. He welcomes a way to better regulate the flow of foot traffic, especially ahead of the Jubilee.
However, Scannavino calls any proposed fee to see the fountain “in bad taste.”
“I don’t think it’s right that the people have to pay to enjoy this beauty,” he said.
Parla also believes such limitations are antithetical to the essence of the fountain, which was inaugurated as a work of public art commissioned by Pope Clement XII in the 18th century.
“And yet, access to the Trevi Fountain for local residents is increasingly complicated by the enormous hordes of tourists that start even at 6 in the morning these days - which is pretty unprecedented,” she said.
Simone Amorico, CEO of the private tour operator Access Italy, passed by the fountain on Thursday afternoon. Even in September, after the peak summer rush has come and gone from the city, “it’s the busiest place in Rome,” he said of the site. “It’s very crowded, even in low season.”
Amorico isn’t sure whether any effort to restrict access will pass, particularly in the timeline proposed by Onorato.
Rules are “not easy to change” in Italy, he said.
But he’s in favor of any effort to regulate the fountain. Echoing Santanchè, he pointed to the recent changes at the Pantheon.
“There was overtourism there, too, but now you need to book a time slot and it’s a lot better, actually,” he said. “There has to be some sort of prevention against overtourism in these popular monuments.”
Parla said the Pantheon changes haven’t been perfect, calling the process of buying admission a “mess” because of a complicated website and a confusing ticket office location.
“I’m not encouraged by the sort of precursor to this and just generally don’t agree with charging for public art,” she said.
Parla would rather see the city come up with a strategic communication plan to market other less-visited historic sites, such as Museum of the Palazzo Massimo or the Basilica of Sant’Agostino.
Related Content
Maui wildfire survivors say insurers are failing to clean up toxic damage to their homes
