The Trevi Fountain launches an experimental walkway against mass tourism | Culture

In a Rome taken over by the works, it has changed its mythical image of the anthill of tourists taking photos with the monument and throwing coins with their backs to the scaffolding. The panorama is completely unusual: there is no water in the fountain; The entire architectural complex is surrounded by a fence of transparent panels and crossed by a huge walkway that rests on an extensive metal framework. Visitors slowly circulate in line, who after the tour throw the classic coin that, according to tradition, ensures the return to the eternal city, into a small pond placed for the occasion at the foot of the empty fountain. Throwing coins from the bridge is prohibited and punishable by fines of 50 euros.

The structure was inaugurated last weekend, it has been designed by the City Council as an experiment to regulate mass tourism and will last until the end of the year, taking advantage of the restoration work in preparation for the , the holy year of Catholicism that will begin on Christmas Eve . The City Council wants to test this tourist containment system at the Trevi Fountain to know exactly how many people visit it, with a view to the possible introduction of an access ticket next year. With the walkway, access is restricted to 130 people at a time. In the first weekend of use, 14,000 people passed through the platform, the council reported – 6,000 on Saturday and 8,000 on Sunday, leaving close to 5,000 euros in the pond. The local administration has explained that the coins, as usual, will be donated to Cáritas of Rome, which uses them for charity work.

For the moment, the reform, although it was announced last month, has taken most visitors by surprise. “I had no idea I was going to find this like this, we had the coins prepared since the morning, but we can’t throw them from the bridge, we have lined up to throw them in that bucket,” says Kylee Jones, who has come with a group of friends from Pasadena, United States, while pointing to the small water tank, with the bottom full of money, and waiting in vain for the number of people on the walkway to reduce so she can enter and take a better photo. “”, ask.

The balance between heritage conservation and mass tourism management is complicated. The mayor of the city has defended the need to intervene and encourage “responsible, slow and respectful” tourism and has argued that the structure allows us to observe the sculptures of the monumental fountain, one of the most admired symbols of the city, closer than usual. Baroque Rome, which is integrated into the Renaissance rear façade. “It is a unique show,” justified the Councilor for Culture, Massimiliano Smeriglio. “Often, the crowded visitors cannot perceive the artistic beauty of the fountain, and this is an unprecedented and unrepeatable point of view, perhaps at most 500,000 people will be able to see it,” the superintendent of Cultural Assets pointed out in statements to the media. Claudio Parise Presicce. “Entering the walkway is a bit cumbersome, there are a lot of people and little space, but the truth is that the views are worth it, you can see the statues in more detail,” approves Juan Antonio Mencía, a retiree from Malaga who is visiting the city ​​on a trip with an organized group. Despite it being the low season for tourism, the number of visitors to Rome remains high.

The walkway will be removed when the restoration is finished, but some type of containment system will be maintained around the fountain, yet to be specified, with the aim of regulating the influx of tourists and avoiding permanent crowds.

The system of the passage structure and the small pond for the coins is somewhat cumbersome and has received numerous ridicule and criticism, inside and outside the transalpine country. The local media these days are collecting the humorous comments from social networks and are echoing information from international newspapers, such as the American or the British. The Guardian, which has renamed the monument “the Trevi pool”.

The Fontana merchants association has asked to meet with the local government and ask that their opinions be heard. Among other things, they suggest that when the restoration works are finished, cordons be placed instead of transparent panels to manage routes in the square and that an electronic reservation system be chosen to avoid the usual lines. They also propose that, if an entrance fee is finally charged, visitors who spend the night and consume in the city be “rewarded” in some way, compared to tourists from large cruise ships who spend just a few hours in Rome.

At the moment, practically the entire Eternal City is covered in scaffolding, rubble and bulldozers, as part of the preparation plan for next year’s Jubilee. The main monuments of the capital, such as the sculptures of the fountain, the street of the imperial forums, the monument to the first king of unified Italy; or the surrounding areas of , are under construction. The restoration work to which they have been undergoing for months has forced them to be partially covered with fences, scaffolding and seals, so that they receive in their best appearance the more than 30 million pilgrims that the City Council expects to pass through Rome throughout the year. throughout the holy year and will join the 50 million visitors who passed through the city last year. In addition to the maintenance of the monuments, the repair of the pavement of most of the streets in the center is added. The Jubilee, which for Christians consists of a pilgrimage to the papal basilicas of Rome, has been celebrated every 25 years for centuries, and renovations in the city for these occasions are common. At this time, for budget reasons, the works have been concentrated almost all at the same time this year, to the disappointment of tourists and the despair of Romans.