Trevi levy: Rome looks to charge tourists entrance fee for monument
Rome could start charging an entrance fee to the Trevi Fountain, one of the city’s most popular attractions, in the latest effort to thin the crowds and stop the nuisance they cause.
The monument, which was immortalised by a famous scene in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita, attracts millions of tourists a year.
It has led to rampant overcrowding, with tourists gathered on the steps leading down to the fountain basin, tucking into pizzas and ice cream, and instances of visitors jumping into the water.
Rome city council is now looking at ways of managing the crush and is mulling the idea of an entrance fee.
“A new form of access needs to be studied,” said Alessandro Onorato, the councillor in charge of tourism and big events.
“There would be a booking system: entrance would be free for Romans but tourists would have to pay the symbolic sum of one euro,” he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
It is not yet clear how access to the monument would be controlled. In the past, proposals to install a plexiglass barrier around the fountain, or metal chains, were rejected as unsightly and out of keeping with the surrounding piazza.
The fountain is thronged with tourists throughout the year. Many come to throw a coin with their right hand over their left shoulder into the water – according to legend, the gesture ensures you will one day return to the Eternal City. The coins are regularly collected and donated to a Catholic charity, Caritas.
The debate over how to protect the Trevi Fountain and other iconic monuments comes as Rome braces for next year’s Jubilee, a holy year celebrated by the Vatican once every 25 years. It is expected to attract millions of extra visitors.
Even in a normal year, Rome is visited by about 20 million tourists.
Completed in 1762, the Trevi Fountain occupies one side of Palazzo Poli in the historic centre. It features statues of Tritons and a shell chariot driven by the god Oceanus.
It is where Italian film director Federico Fellini set one of the most famous scenes in cinema in La Dolce Vita, with the Swedish actress Anita Ekberg wading into the fountain at night and beckoning Marcello Mastroianni to join her.
Short-term lets also under scrutiny
The city council is also looking at clamping down on the thousands of short-let apartments and bed and breakfasts that have sprung up in the last few years. The number has increased from 17,000 in 2018 to more than 30,000.
The city is awash with stories of landlords kicking out their long-term Italian tenants in order to put their properties on short-term let platforms, such as Airbnb, in the hope of making much more money.
Tourism has bounced back with vigour since the end of the pandemic and the numbers will only grow with next year’s Jubilee, which consists of special masses and events for the Catholic faithful.
Venice introduced a €5 entrance fee earlier this year to combat its own problems with overtourism.
The tax – the first of its kind in the world – was launched at the end of April and applied to 29 of the busiest days between then and mid-July.
The idea was to deter day-trippers who visit Venice, use the facilities, clog the streets for a few hours and then depart without having contributed much to the city economically.
Visitors who spent at least one night in the city were exempt.
Opponents of the entrance fee said that €5 was too little to deter most tourists from visiting and that it reinforced the impression that Venice is becoming a cultural “Disneyland”.
It comes as other countries announce measures to address overtourism.
On Tuesday, New Zealand announced that it will nearly triple the entrance tax imposed on foreign visitors, starting in October, to help protect and preserve its national treasures.
The government said that the entrance fee, known as the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL), will increase from NZ$35 (￡16.50) to NZ$100 (￡47).
