Rome confirms that the entry fee system will take effect from 1 February.
Tourists visiting Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain up close will be required to pay an entry fee of €2 from 1 February 2026, the city’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri confirmed on Friday.
The move – both controversial and widely anticipated – comes after a year of a trial system to manage crowds at the Rome landmark which attracts vast crowds every day.
Under the new system, tourists will be obliged to pay the €2 entry fee to get close to the monument which will remain free to Rome residents.
Gualtieri said that five other cultural attractions that had been free would also start charging entry fees to tourists from 1 February: the Villa of Maxentius, the Napoleonic Museum, the Carlo Baracco Museum, the Pilotti Museum and the Pietro Canonica Museum.
Gualtieri also said that around nine million tourists visited the area in front of the fountain between 1 January and 8 December, an average of 30,000 people a day.
City authorities have stressed that no barriers will be installed in the piazza, which will remain accessible by the public, and that the entry fee and queuing system relates only to the steps leading down to the fountain’s basin.
The move is designed to thin out the crowds to improve the visitor experience as well as protect the monument from the negative aspects of mass tourism.
The number of people accessing the monument at any one time is set to be fixed at 400, unlike the thousands who once jostled for space to take selfies.
Funds
Gualtieri said the entry fee should generate an annual treasure chest of around €6.5 million for the capital.
Visitors already throw coins into the fountain – adding up to around €1.5 million a year – however that money goes entirely to the Caritas charity.
According to tradition, tourists who toss coins into the basin of the Baroque monument – right hand over left shoulder with eyes closed – are guaranteed a return trip to the Eternal City.
Precedent
Italy’s culture ministry introduced a €5 entry fee at the Pantheon in 2023, however the Trevi Fountain is under the jurisdiction of the Italian capital.
In the first six months of this year, the Trevi Fountain recorded over 5.3 million visitors, more than the Pantheon received in all of 2024.
Criticism
Italian consumer watchdog Codacons has voiced its opposition to the entry fee system, saying it was “against the monetization” of cultural sites and arguing that tourists “should be able to enjoy the beauty of Rome for free”.
Codacons did however acknowledge that it was necessary “to limit crowds and mass tourism, which create degradation and deface the capital’s heritage.”
Responding to critics of the scheme, tourism councillor Alessandro Onorato said the entry fee idea was “really super logical” and claimed that if the Trevi Fountain “were in America or anywhere else in Europe, they would charge visitors €50”.
Photo credit: Shutterstock / Maria Albi.
