The restored one was unveiled today after more than two months of cleaning and renovation, part of Rome’s preparations for 2025, the Roman Catholic Church’s holy year.
The work, for which the city of Rome budgeted €327,000, included removing dirt, pollution, iron oxide and scale from the 18th-century monument, one of the best-known of Rome’s many tourist attractions. .
During this time, the fountain was empty, but visitors could see it from a temporary footbridge.
To avoid a return of the large crowds that used to throng the small piazza that houses the fountain, Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri said visitors should form a queue of 400 people at a time.
In the future, the city of Rome may consider introducing a ticket for the monument, Gualtieri added.
The Vatican expects up to 32 million tourists to flock to the Italian capital for the Jubilee, putting enormous strain on Rome’s antiquated infrastructure and the difficulty of managing the flow of visitors.
The Jubilee of the Catholic Church is an extremely important religious event celebrated to promote faith, charity and forgiveness.
It is a special opportunity for believers around the world to renew their spiritual commitment and receive forgiveness of sins.
The tradition dates back to the 1300s, when Pope Boniface VIII convened a holy year, after which ordinary celebrations are generally celebrated every 25 or 50 years, with extraordinary celebrations as needed.
Completed in 1762, the fountain is a late Baroque masterpiece, with statues of Tritons guiding the sea-god Ocean’s shell chariot, illustrating the theme of taming the waters.
Tradition dictates that visitors drop a coin into the fountain to guarantee their return to Rome.
During the work, visitors had to drop coins into a temporary pool.
