Tourist trap or way to preserve history? This is the new price for throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain

Rome’s authorities have introduced a new filter for access to the area around the Trevi Fountain. From now on, any nonresident who wants to get close to the monument and toss a lucky coin into its waters will have to pay a two-euro entrance fee (about $1.35). The goal is to reduce overcrowding around the fountain by targeting what officials see as people’s weakest spot, their wallets.

Visitors will still be able to enter the square and view the fountain from a greater distance, but getting close to the pool now requires a ticket. The payment system is mandatory from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays, and from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on the remaining days. If you stay out late enough or arrive early enough, the fountain and fortune will welcome you for free, since visits outside those hours do not require payment.

Tourist trap or way to preserve history?

How effective will this measure be, introduced as a shield against mass tourism and as a way to raise funds for maintaining the fountain? According to Roman authorities cited by CNN, ticket sales could generate between 6.5 and 20 million euros per year ($7.7 to $23.5 million).

This past Monday, the first day of the new policy, 5,000 tickets were sold between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. That amounted to 10,000 euros ($11,800) in revenue, as about 555 people per hour paid for the chance to walk down the monument’s steps. Like a kind of spiritual betting house, many tossed their coins into the fountain in hopes of a more prosperous future.

Some traditions, however, will not change. Tourists will still be free to choose the value of the coin they throw. The total amount collected, which usually reaches about 1.5 million euros per year ($1.76 million), will continue to be donated to Caritas. In addition, all visitors who pay to move the few meters separating the barriers from the monument will be prohibited from eating or drinking near the fountain.

The debate has already taken hold in Italy. Some argue that if tourists avoid paying the entrance fee, they will crowd around the barriers instead, blocking pedestrian traffic. Others support the small charge, as long as it truly goes toward preserving the country’s cultural heritage.

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