ROME (AP) — Starting Monday, visitors hoping to get close to the Trevi Fountain must pay 2 euros ($2.35) as the city of Rome launches a new fee structure to help raise funds and control crowds at one of the world’s most famous waterworks.
The first tourists to pass through the new ticket gate seemed confused by the tariff, pointing out that they paid a small fee for high-quality tickets to visit the fountain made famous by Federico Fellini’s film “La Dolce Vita.”
“Before, there was a problem getting into the fountain. There were many people. Now, it’s easy,” said Ilhan Musbah, a tourist from Morocco. “You can take photos, it’s nice and comfortable, and 2 euros isn’t too much.”
The visitor fee was introduced at the same time as a new €5 (nearly $6) visitor admission fee for some city museums. In both cases, Rome residents are exempt from the fees, and the additional revenue will actually increase the number of city-run museums open free to registered residents of Rome.
It’s all part of the Eternal City’s efforts to manage visitor flows in particularly congested areas of town, improve the experience and offset the maintenance costs of preserving all of Rome’s cultural heritage. Officials estimate the city could net an additional 6.5 million euros ($7.6 million) a year.
The city has decided to impose a Trevi Fountain fee after a year of trials that yielded positive results, staggering and limiting the number of visitors arriving at the basin’s front by creating entry and exit lines and pathways.
“I think tourists are shocked by the fact that the city of Rome only charges 2 euros for an attraction of this caliber,” Rome tourism evaluator Alessandro Onorato said on Monday. “I believe that if the Trevi Fountain were in New York, they would charge at least $100.”
The fee follows a similar ticketing system for Rome’s Pantheon monument and a more complex tourist day-trip tax imposed last year by the lagoon city of Venice to ease overtourism and make the city more livable for residents. Ticket prices in Italy still pale in comparison to the 45% increase in prices announced by French authorities for the Louvre Museum, which can now rise from 22 euros to 32 euros ($37), for most non-European visitors.
The Trevi fee can be paid in advance online, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with the fountain during prime hours of the day. The view remains free for those who admire the late Baroque masterpiece in the square above, as it can be appreciated up close after hours.
The towering fountain, themed after the Titan god Oanos, is flanked by waterfalls cascading from travertine rock into a shallow turquoise pool in which Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg dined at night in “La Dolce Vita.”
Although bathing is now prohibited, legend has it that visitors can return to Rome by throwing a coin over their shoulders and making a wish.
