In Rome, the famous Trevi Fountain comes out of its flats

« There are too many people », cowardly, irritated, a French tourist blocked by the crowd in front of the Trevi fountain. For several years, one of Rome’s most emblematic monuments has been suffocated by the human tide that submerges it every day.

« We need more order, otherwise the visit is not pleasant, » says Rafel Llerat, a 44-year-old visitor from Spain.

Trevi Square, where the famous 18th century UNESCO World Heritage Fountain stands, is nestled in the heart of a lake of alleys in a small area of Rome’s historic centre, quickly crowded by the daily flow of tourists.

About fifteen municipal policemen are already in charge of regulating the space and watching over the Bernin’s masterpiece. With their whistles, they call visitors to order at the slightest improper behavior.

« No, it is not possible to go into this area, you risk damaging the marble« , says one of them to a tourist trying to eat his ice on the edge of the fountain.

Three weeks ago, a brawl broke out between a young Dutch tourist and a 44-year-old Italian-American, both of whom had set their sights on a strategic location to take a picture.

« It is one of the most beautiful places in Rome, people should be more educated: they should understand that we are facing a monument », stresses Valentina Baldi, a 48-year-old Tuscan woman.

It is customary to throw a coin away by turning one’s back on the fountain, a superstition that ensures one day returning to the Eternal City.

Faced with the growing number of visitors, the City Council of Rome has several times expressed the wish to install a controlled access to the baroque work, which has just been restored, to relieve congestion on the site.

From wild baths to gogo

« If we had had to wait in line, we wouldn’t have come , » says Sal Boscarello, a 39-year-old American asked about this possible restriction.

With the record temperatures of August in Rome, the Trevi Fountain did not escape the wild baths either. Many tourists wanted to imitate the Swedish diva Anita Ekberg in the unforgettable scene of « La Dolce Vita », Federico Fellini’s film.

In mid-August, a couple of Canadian tourists in their thirties tried for the first time to bathe in the middle of the night in the famous basin before being removed by the police.

But the two lovers did not give up the game: a few hours later, they threw themselves into the clear waters of the fountain before being verbalised by the police. A night bath for which they were fined 450 euros.

The Trevi Fountain is not the only Roman monument to be concerned by these wild baths. A few days ago, police launched a call on social networks to identify a group of English-speaking tourists who had bathed in the fountain in Piazza Venezia.

A gesture that « seriously damages the national sentiment and the memory of the dead to whom the monument is dedicated », she wrote on her Facebook page.

The event decided Rome City Council to deploy the municipal police to watch the fountains in the historic centre day and night, with about ten similar episodes already sanctioned in August.