A temporary walkway has been installed around one of Rome’s most famous landmarks, the Trevi Fountain, while restorers clean the 18th-century monument. The fountain was emptied of water last month and cordoned off while the €300,000 conservation project is under way.
Over the next few weeks up to 130 people at a time will be able to stand for a few minutes on the walkway, which will remain set up until the restoration work is complete. The last major restoration was in 2014; since then, grime, bacteria, calcium deposits and weeds have accumulated at the historic site.
A statement from the Capitoline Superintendency, which is overseeing the restoration project, says: “The maintenance work will focus on the stone surfaces of the lower part of the monument, in particular the area between the edge of the basin and the access steps, which will be thoroughly cleaned. In addition, the grouting of the joints in various areas of the fountain will be repaired to preserve its structural and aesthetic integrity.”
According to Associated Press, city officials may block off the area around the fountain next spring in a bid to stem overcrowding. Visitors will subsequently be required to book online and pay a fee of €2 to access the fountain for a 30-minute period. The Capitoline Superintendency was contacted for comment.
“During the works, a different way of observing the fountain will be tested, through the installation of a walkway that will allow visitors, in limited groups, to admire the monument from an unusual and close-up perspective. The walkway will offer the opportunity to acquire new data on attendance, [which is] useful for solving the problems of overcrowding of the monument,” says the superintendency.
While the throwing of coins into the fountain from this walkway isn’t permitted, tourists can continue the tradition by tipping currency into a makeshift tub installed in front of the fountain, which Romans and some visitors have dubbed a “municipal swimming pool”.
The Trevi, completed in 1762, is built on the rear façade of the Palazzo Poli and incorporates statues made of white Carrara marble. The fountain is considered a late Baroque masterpiece and has featured in a number of films, notably Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960).
The overhaul of the Trevi fountain is part of a larger €1.2m restoration project encompassing four other Roman fountains, including the Fontana delle Tartarughe in Piazza Mattei.
Elsewhere in Italy, officials at Pompeii say they plan to limit the number of daily visitors to the ancient site to 20,000, and also to introduce personalised tickets with visitors’ full names. The move comes after 36,000 people visited Pompeii on an admission-free day last month.
On the first Sunday of every month, entrance to Italian museums is free; otherwise, standard Pompeii tickets are priced from €18. A spokesperson for Pompeii said that daily admissions usually surpassed 20,000 during free-admission Sundays and on three or four normal paying days
Last year, over four million people visited the remains of the ancient Roman city which was engulfed by volcanic ash in 79AD spewing from nearby Mount Vesuvius.
