Coming Soon, Booking a Time to Visit the Trevi Fountain and Maybe to Buy a Gelato?
I saw this article that Rome could limit access to the Trevi Fountain as it grapples with overtourism. Basically, officials in Rome are considering whether to require visitors to book a time to visit the Trevi Fountain. Of course, once you require a reservation, Rome would institute a fee associated with it. Even though officials say it is not about raising money, I bet it will start small like 1 or 2 Euro and then increase shortly thereafter to 10 to 20 Euros.
This is another hot area that officials are dealing with overtourism. With the 2025 Jubilee coming, Rome will have even a greater influx of people approaching 30 million people. Rome along with many other cities were pushing for tourism especially after COVID (looking for the tourist dollars, euros and pounds). Now that they are successful, they are complaining about and blaming these tourists. Did they not think that if you promote your city for tourism that people will come and see your landmarks? Where is the accountability for the lack of planning by these tourism boards?
I visited the Trevi Fountain last year and it was extremely crowded at all hours of the day. It is definitely one of the signature landmarks of Rome. It is shameful what some tourists have done to other historic landmarks through their insensitivity or lack of care. People have carved their initials in thousand year old structures and break antiquities through careless behavior. If the goal of these steps is to protect the Trevi Fountain from damage arising from all these tourists, I am in favor of taking some form of steps.
The challenge is if you set up some form of reservation system then you will need to block off access to the Trevi Fountain. I have to believe that this will impact the beauty of the Trevi Fountain. I just hate how all these steps impact our enjoyment of these historic landmarks. Also, gone will be the days when you can wander around Rome taking in the city and the culture as you see fit. You may have to book all of your activities to make sure you see the highlights. What is next, booking a slot for gelato?
