A 2008 Sightseers’ Delight story — technically published on a predecessor site — about seeing Rome offered practical advice before visiting the Trevi Fountain: Bring some spare change.
The reason was tradition. Throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, the legend says, and you’ll return to Rome.
The advice still works. These days, though, you’ll need another €2 if you want to stand close enough to the fountain to toss that coin.
Rome began charging nonresident visitors €2 on Feb. 2 to enter the basin area immediately around the Trevi Fountain. The fee applies from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day. Children 5 and younger, people with disabilities and residents of Rome and the surrounding metropolitan area are exempt. You can still see the fountain from the surrounding square without paying.
Sightseers’ Delight reported in September 2024 that Rome was considering the €2 charge. At the time, it was another proposal to deal with the enormous number of people who squeeze into the relatively small Piazza di Trevi to see one of Rome’s most recognizable landmarks.
The proposal survived. It is the latest attempt to manage a place that wasn’t designed for modern tourism.
Pope Clement XII commissioned the fountain in 1730. Nicola Salvi designed it around the facade of the Palazzo Poli, and work continued after his death. Giuseppe Pannini completed the fountain in 1762.
The crowds came considerably later. When I wrote about Rome in 2008, the Trevi Fountain was one of the obvious stops on a walk through the historic center, along with the Colosseum, Pantheon and Spanish Steps. My advice about the coin was about as complicated as visiting the fountain needed to be.
By an April 2016 visit, the fountain remained free and completely open, but the crowds could make stopping for a photograph an exercise in patience. Rome was already trying to figure out how to manage visitor behavior.
In 2017, Sightseers’ Delight reported that retired police officers had been assigned to patrol the Trevi Fountain from morning until midnight. Visitors who picnicked on the steps or put their feet in the water faced fines of up to €240. Officials were also watching dozens of other historic fountains around the city.
The new ticket system takes a different approach. Rather than charging admission to the piazza, Rome controls access to the area immediately beside the water.
Tickets can be bought online, at city museums and tourist information points, through authorized sellers or by card at the entrance. That means someone walking through central Rome can still wander into Piazza di Trevi and see the fountain without buying anything. Reaching the traditional coin-tossing territory is another matter.
