Tourists who want to follow the timeless tradition of tossing a coin in Rome’s Trevi Fountain will now have to pay a €2 (Dh8.50) fee to access the area, in an attempt by the city to ease overcrowding and generate revenue.
The city’s tourism authority introduced the fee this week at the 18th century baroque fountain, which attracts thousands of visitors a day.
The charge will apply to tourists who want to walk down the stairs to the basin to throw their coins and take a selfie. Locals, children and disabled people are exempt. Visitors who simply walk through the square may do so without charge.
This follows an earlier attempt to prevent overcrowding at the fountain by introducing a queuing system in December 2024.
Rome tourism chief Alessandro Onorato said that 18 people had been hired to run the new system.
“It's proof of how tourism generates wealth and jobs, especially if it's well-organised,” Mr Onorato said. “Until a year ago, visiting the Trevi Fountain was an absurd experience,” he added, referring to the huge crowds that would gather around the basin.
“Now we've completed a healthy revolution. Of course, it will always be possible to walk through the surrounding square for free.”
The 18th century fountain was built around an aqueduct that supplied water to ancient Rome, with a baroque sculpture of the Greek titan Oceanus on a seashell chariot pulled by hippocamps.
It's spectacular setting was chosen for a romantic scene in the Netflix series Emily in Paris.
Tourists throw coins there as they make a wish, in a tradition that has gone on for centuries. The money gathered from the coins is donated to the Roman division of the Catholic charity Caritas, where it is estimated to reach about €1 million a year.
Other cities such as Venice and Lisbon have introduced new tourist taxes or raised them, while the UK government will soon give city mayors the power to introduce a levy on overnight stays for tourists.
The UK government’s Treasury tried “very hard” to end free entry to major London museums for international visitors at its Autumn budget last year, according to LBC.
The plans could have saved hundreds of millions of pounds from the annual Department for Culture, Media and Sport budget, but were scrapped after pushback from ministers, including Secretary of State Lisa Nandy.
The department also modelled scrapping free entry for all visitors, a source told LBC.
The British Museum and Science Museum are among 15 cultural museums and galleries that receive government funding so that all visitors can access them for free. These institutions were given £480 million by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2024-2025.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was under pressure to raise money to pay for government policy reversals on welfare spending, abolishing the two child benefit cap and an increase in fiscal headroom.
Free entry to the permanent collections of major museums in the UK was introduced by the Labour government in 2001. The policy is credited for a huge increase in visitors to attractions such as the Natural History Museum and the British Museum.
The Museums Association said the proposed policy could have caused “reputational damage for the UK”.
Museums in many other major cities around the world charge for entry. The Louvre in Paris raised its ticket prices by 45 per cent this year for non-EU tourists to €32 for entry, after a break-in last year exposed its deteriorating state, while the Vatican Museum charges about €20.
