Rome to
regulate Trevi Fountain crowds after restoration
A general
view shows the Trevi fountain after renovation works in Rome, on the day of its
reopening with crowds of people huddling round the grand re-opening.
More than
10,000 people used to visit the baroque landmark in Rome every day
Thomas
Mackintosh
BBC News
Published
22 December
2024
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwypvvplj05o
Rome's
world-famous Trevi Fountain has re-opened after a three-month restoration.
Built in the
18th Century by Italian architect Nicola Salvi on the façade of the Poli
Palace, the historic fountain is one of the city's most visited spots.
Between
10,000 and 12,000 tourists used to visit the Trevi Fountain each day, but a new
queuing system has been installed to prevent large crowds massing near the
landmark.
Speaking on
Sunday Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri said imposing the limit will "allow
everyone to better enjoy the fountain, without crowds or confusion".
Gualtieri
also said city authorities were considering charging a modest entry price to
finance the fountain's upkeep.
Sunday's
re-opening took place under light rain in the presence of several hundred
tourists, many of whom followed the mayor by throwing a coin into the fountain.
The
three-month cleaning project involved removing mould and calcium incrustations.
The fountain
and other key city sites have been cleaned ahead of the jubilee of the Roman
Catholic Church which begins on Christmas Eve.
A new
queueing system will be put in place to avoid large crowds, like this in
September 2024
Its poor
structural condition was exposed in 2012 when bits of its elaborate cornice
began falling off after an especially harsh winter which required a
multi-million euro renovation the following year.
Making a
wish and tossing a coin into the water is such a tradition that the city
authorities used to collect around €10,000 (£8,300; $10,500) a week.
The money
was donated to a charity that provides meals for the poor.
It is the
end point of one of the aqueducts that supplied ancient Rome with water
The Acqua
Vergine runs for a total of 20km (12 miles) before flowing into the fountain
Tourists can
drink from a special tap tucked away at one side
According to
legend, the water source was discovered in 19 BC by thirsty Roman soldiers
directed to the site by a young virgin - which is why it is called Virgin
Waters
The
tradition of throwing coins into the fountain was made famous by Frank
Sinatra's Three Coins in the Fountain in the 1954 romantic comedy of the same
name
Fishing
Coins From Trevi Fountain and Putting Wet Money to Work
Who gets to
spend the millions of euros in change tossed into the Roman landmark?
By
Elisabetta Povoledo
Reporting
from Rome
Jan. 1, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/01/world/europe/rome-coins-trevi-fountain-caritas.html
There’s a
good chance that many first-time visitors to the Trevi Fountain in Rome know
the drill. To ensure a return to the Eternal City, the legend goes, stand with
your back to the water and toss a coin with your right hand over your left
shoulder.
The ritual
became famous around the world thanks to the 1954 film “Three Coins in the
Fountain,” and its eponymous song — recorded by Frank Sinatra — which won the
Oscar for best original song.
The coin
throw is such a popular item on tourist itineraries that even a recent
three-month restoration that cut off direct access to the 18th-century fountain
was not a deterrent. Visitors still crowded in front of the transparent panels
protecting the work site to lob coins — about 61,000 euros’ worth, or $63,000 —
into a squat utilitarian tub.
“The tourist
is going to toss a coin, they don’t care about construction or no
construction,” Fabrizio Marchioni said on a chilly December morning a few days
before the fountain’s reopening.
He should
know.
For 13
years, Mr. Marchioni’s principal job for the Roman Catholic charity Caritas has
been to collect and count the coins tossed into the fountain.
“These are
coins of solidarity,” as “they’re put to good use,” said Giustino Trincia, the
director of Rome’s Caritas branch. More than 52,800 meals were doled out at
Caritas soup kitchens in Rome in 2023, just one of many projects the charity
runs.
The coins
are claimed by Rome’s municipal administration, but it has donated them to
Caritas since 2005. The proceeds in 2023 were close to 2 million euros.
The recent
cleanup of the fountain, 10 years after a major restoration, came just in time
for the start of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve. With some
32 million visitors expected over the next year, Rome is in a state of busy
preparation, with dozens of monuments being cleaned and polished.
The
fountain’s temporary closure also allowed city officials to test out
controlling visitor access. At the reopening, just before Christmas, officials
announced that only 400 people at a time would be allowed into the sunken area
in front. Visitors will enter at one end of the basin and exit on the other
side, with monitors keeping watch during daytime hours.
“The goal is
to allow everyone to enjoy the fountain to the fullest without the crush,
without confusion,” Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome, said at the
reopening. The city is also considering charging a nominal fee, he said.
Rome has a
plethora of fountains, the public, decorative faces of aqueducts that were
originally built by the ancient Romans, but none match the fame of the Fountain
of Trevi. In the early 18th century, “a practically unknown architect,” Nicola
Salvi, replaced a more modest iteration of the fountain with the monumental
work that reaches nearly 115 feet in height, arguably “the best known monument
of modern Rome,” said Claudio Parisi Presicce, Rome’s superintendent for
cultural heritage.
Celebrated
in a symphony, as well as in artworks over the centuries, the fountain became a
cinematic star in the 20th century, most famously in Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita,”
where Anita Ekberg throatily called to Marcello Mastroianni to join her as she
waded in its waters (an act that would be much frowned upon in real life).
Fresh fame
came via the 2024 season of Netflix’s series “Emily in Paris,” after the
protagonist, Emily Cooper, made the fountain one of her first Roman stops.
The
coin-tossing ritual began at the end of the 19th century, when German academics
studying in Rome reprised an ancient Roman practice of throwing coins into
water for good luck. It quickly caught on.
Over the
decades, the coins — and people sitting on the marble edge of the fountain
(another definite no-no) — have contributed to its wear and tear, especially as
visitor numbers have risen sharply in recent years.
“These are
magnificent, enormous monuments, but they are very delicate,” said Anna Maria
Cerioni, who has overseen many of Rome’s fountains for three decades in her
role as head of restoration for the city’s art superintendency.
The minerals
in the coins often leave marks on the product used to waterproof the basin.
Specially developed for the fountain, it is known as “Trevi White,” and
periodic maintenance is necessary.
The fountain
is still supplied by the Aqua Virgo, built in the first century B.C.E. and the
only one of the 11 aqueducts built by the ancient Romans that has remained
almost constantly in use, said Marco Tesan, who oversees the maintenance of
some of Rome’s fountains and aqueducts for the water and electricity utility
ACEA.
Twice a
week, the utility’s workers use a machine developed for swimming pools to suck
up the coins from the basin. During the maintenance phase, brooms and dustpans
sufficed, “though you still feel achy at the end of the day,” said Luca
Tasselli of ACEA.
At the
fountain, the collected coins are weighed under the oversight of city police
officers before Mr. Marchioni takes them to Caritas offices. There, they are
first washed under tap water, then laid out on a towel-lined table so that
impurities can be removed. Along with other stuff.
Larger
objects commonly found in the fountain, like bottles, umbrellas, fruit and
drinking glasses, are removed directly by ACEA workers. Mr. Marchioni and the
volunteers who help him root out smaller items.
Recently
found: religious medals, guitar picks, subway tokens, keys, marbles, shells,
and pins of all shapes and sizes. Bracelets and rings were also common, and Mr.
Marchioni surmised that they might have fallen off during particularly
enthusiastic tosses.
Expensive-looking
jewelry is turned over to the police.
Because
there isn’t a market for coin-drying machines, Caritas tasked a company that
makes machines to dry cutlery with converting one for its purposes. The coins
are dried and then passed through a machine that separates euro coins from
everything else. It’s so sophisticated that it even detected a bunch of fake
two-euro coins that were making the rounds in May and June.
Foreign
currency is sent to a company to exchange, which can get troublesome, said Mr.
Marchioni. “Let’s say that tossing euro coins is best,” he said.
The proceeds
are used for a variety of projects, from youth activities to care programs for
people with Alzheimer’s disease. Mostly, Caritas helps needy families make ends
meet, reaching almost 10,000 people in 2023, said Mr. Trincia of Caritas.
He added
that he hoped tourists visiting Rome were aware of the good they are doing
through the fountain. “Poverty doesn’t go on holiday,” he said.
Elisabetta
Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the
culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about
Elisabetta Povoledo
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