Rome expects Trevi Fountain entry fee to generate €6 million a year.
More than 5,000 people visited Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain on the first day of a new ticketed entry system at the Baroque landmark, the city said on Monday.
Under the new system, tourists and non-residents of Rome who want up-close access to the monument must join a queue and pay a €2 entry fee, granting them access to the lower, internal perimeter of the fountain.
Rome residents can visit the monument for free, by showing an ID document, but will also have to line up to see it from the water’s edge where people traditionally toss a coin.
How it works
The system is in place every day from 09.00 until 22.00, except on Mondays and Fridays when public access will be 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 public access remains open for everyone in the higher part of the piazza in front of the monument, which can still be admired for free from a slight distance.
Tourists are assisted by 18 stewards, wearing blue vests, who reportedly speak multiple languages. Tickets can be bought on site, with payment by card only, or online.
“More orderly experience”
For now, barriers still demarcate the routes however they are set to be replaced with “columns in keeping with the aesthetics of the site”, according to the city.
The administration of Rome’s centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri has hailed the success of the new system, claiming that it “ensures a more orderly experience, a more comfortable stay in the area, and overall an improvement in the quality of the visit to one of Rome’s most important monuments and Italy’s cultural heritage.”
Rome’s tourism councillor Alessandro Onorato, who has been a driving force behind the initiative, launched the entry fee system on Monday.
“Some say €2 is too much”, Onorato said, “but if the Trevi Fountain had been in New York, they would have asked for $100.”
Free museums for Rome residents
Onorato said the entry fee is expected to generate €6 million, describing it as “a contribution to beauty” which will be used to offset free entry for the city’s residents to 12 of the capital’s museums including the Capitoline Museums, Trajan’s Markets, the Ara Pacis and Centrale Montemartini.
Rome culture councillor Massimiliano Smeriglio on Monday boasted that there were 3,000 advance ticket sales in the first few hours, telling reporters: “The lines are working well, and it seems to me that everything is being absorbed naturally by the Roman tourism system”.
Criticism
The entry fee follows a year-long trial and is designed to combat overtourism, however critics claim the move has “Disneyfied” an iconic landmark which for more than 260 years could be visited for free.
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 most precious landmarks.
Photo Wanted in Rome, 1 February 2026.
