Rome to charge €2 for close access to Trevi Fountain starting Feb. 1
ROME — Tourists hoping to step down to the edge of Rome’s Trevi Fountain will have to pay €2 from Feb. 1 under a new policy to manage crowds and raise funds from one of Italy’s most visited landmarks, the city’s mayor said.
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Mayor Roberto Gualtieri announced the change and said the payment system is projected to bring in about €6.5 million a year. He argued the small fee will help tame congestion around the monument without shutting off views or penalizing residents.
“Two euros isn’t very much … and it will lead to less chaotic tourist flows,” Gualtieri told reporters, adding that citizens of Rome will continue to access the fountain free of charge.
The fee applies to anyone who wants to get onto the stone steps surrounding the fountain’s basin. The small square that frames the site — and offers an unobstructed view of the fountain’s facade and sculptures — will remain open to everyone at no cost.
Completed in 1762, the late Baroque fountain centers on Oceanus, the god of all water, in a composition that evokes the shifting moods of seas and rivers. It has been one of Rome’s biggest draws for decades, with Gualtieri noting it has received nine million visitors so far this year.
The city expects the new system will encourage more people to admire the monument from the square rather than crowd onto the steps. On recent days, foot traffic has routinely backed up through the surrounding alleys as tour groups and visitors press toward the basin to take photos.
Some visitors expressed openness to the idea if revenues are used for upkeep and preservation. “If it means that money is used to keep it maintained, then yeah, that’s fine,” said British tourist Yvonne Salustri.
The Trevi move is part of a wider effort by Italian cities to leverage cultural heritage to pay for preservation and crowd control. Gualtieri said five relatively unknown sites in Rome that are currently free will begin charging €5 for access from February.
In 2023, Rome introduced a €5 entrance fee for the Pantheon, the ancient temple-turned-church that is one of the city’s best-preserved classical buildings. Since then, the square outside has often been crammed with people queuing for timed entry, a visible sign of how the city’s most popular attractions are struggling to accommodate record tourism while protecting historic fabric.
Elsewhere in Italy, Venice has started a tourist entry-fee system during peak travel periods to discourage day-trippers and reduce pressure on the UNESCO-listed lagoon. Verona this month began charging for access to the balcony associated with Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” another small but heavily visited spot that has seen chronic overcrowding.
Rome did not immediately detail how the Trevi Fountain access fee will be collected or whether the city will set time limits for visits to the steps. Officials emphasized, however, that the adjacent viewing area would remain freely accessible and that the goal is to balance public enjoyment with the need to safeguard the site.
The Trevi Fountain remains a magnet for visitors at all hours — and a delicate piece of urban stagecraft. City leaders say the new €2 charge is meant to keep it that way, easing pressure on the monument while channeling steady revenue into maintenance and management.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
