One month of paid entry yields significant revenue and orderly crowds.
A total of 229,896 people have been admitted to Rome’s Trevi Fountain since a new access management system was launched one month ago, the city said on Monday.
This number included 217,597 people who paid the new €2 entry fee, introduced on 2 February, along with more than 12,000 people who benefited from free admission, including roughly 3,500 local residents.
The tickets generated €435,194 which the city said will be used to support free admission to Rome’s municipal museums for local residents and pay for the museum’s upkeep and preservation.
This initiative, designed to curb the historical issues of overcrowding and site degradation, requires non-resident tourists to pay a €2 fee for access to the fountain’s lower basin, while maintaining free entry for residents of Rome and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri on Monday praised the results, stating that the system proves it is possible to combine the preservation of the Trevi Fountain with full accessibility.
“Finally, Romans can return to visit it without overcrowding, and thanks to the funds raised, they will also be able to enjoy free admission to Rome’s civic museums”, Gualtieri said.
The city’s tourism councillor Alessandro Onorato said the numbers confirm the “wisdom of the decision we made”, hailing the new visitor experience as “authentic” and “significantly better than in the past, when chaos, decay, and insecurity reigned supreme.”
The introduction of the fee, following a year of trials, has divided opinion in Rome. Those in favour say it provides for a more orderly and less chaotic experience and costs very little, while critics say that the monument should be free for everyone and accuse the city of “Disneyfying” the landmark.
The system is in place every day from 09.00 until 22.00, except on Mondays and Fridays when public access is available from 11.30, to allow for the twice-weekly collection of the coins in the water, all of which go to charity.
The queue forms to one side of the fountain, on Via della Stamperia, and tickets can be bought on site, with payment by card only, or online.
Public access remains open and free for everyone in the higher part of the piazza in front of the monument.
The implementation of the Trevi ticketing system follows a similar model at the Pantheon, as well as Venice’s day-tripper tax, marking a new era for visiting Italy’s top landmarks.
Photo credit: REPORT / Shutterstock.com.
