The Trevi Fountain is one of the most popular and Instagrammable tourist spots in the world.
Mostly during summer you will find hordes of tourists surrounding the 18th-century masterpiece for their very own La Dolce Vita moment (just don’t go into the water or you will get fined).
Legend has it that if you adhere to a very specific tradition – by specifically using your right hand to launch a coin over your left shoulder — then you will return to Rome at some point in your life.
Legend has it that if you adhere to a very specific tradition – by specifically using your right hand to launch a coin over your left shoulder — then you will return to Rome at some point in your life.
This tradition has been going on for hundreds of years with visitors making a wish before they toss a coin into the fountain.
They money is collected twice a week with signs around the fountain explaining that the change will go to charity.
Extracting the coins is a spectacle, Reuters reports, with workers from regional utility ACEA balancing on the edge of the vast Baroque fountain, using long brooms and suction hoses.
“The collection and cleaning operations are carried out as quickly as possible to try to reduce the downtime of the fountain,” Francesco Prisco, a manager at ACEA said.
After the coins have been swept into a long line by a long-reach broom, they are sucked up by hoses and taken to Caritas’ office, where they’re spread across a huge table for drying.
The coins are then given to Caritas, not-for-profit organization run by the Catholic Church. It uses the money to fund a food bank, soup kitchen and welfare projects in Rome.
So, how much is being tossed into the 300-year-old fountain? Reuters reported that in 2022 Caritas collected 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million US) from the water and it expects to have gathered even more in 2023.
Each year, around 21 million tourists visit Rome, with many making a pit stop to the Trevi Fountain.
The iconic tourist attraction was completed in 1762 and covers one side of Palazzo Poli in central Rome with its statues of Tritons guiding the shell chariot of the god Oceanus, illustrating the theme of the taming of the waters.
It is where Italian film director Federico Fellini set the famous “La Dolce Vita” scene, with Anita Ekberg wading into the fountain after midnight and beckoning Marcello Mastroianni to join her.
Unfortunetly, you can’t replicate the moment with tourists copping a hefty fine of up wading into its waters fined.
Last year two Aussies were fined 450 Euros ($497 US) after swimming in the fountain waters. They were also banned 48 hours from accessing certain areas of the city.
