Rome Is Considering a New Trevi Fountain Entrance Fee

You might soon have to pay for the privilege of tossing a few coins in Rome’s Trevi Fountain.

Alessandro Onorato, the top tourism official for the city, told the AP this weekend that the city is considering introducing a new entrance fee for the Trevi Fountain, one of the most visited sites in the city. The fee would be required for anyone getting within the nine stone steps that lead up to the fountain’s edge.

The tax has to be approved by the city council but has already received the support of some local officials, including the city’s mayor.

The goal of the proposed tax is the same as the growing list of tourist taxes introduced elsewhere—to limit tourism, protect locals, and create a revenue source that will help preserve older, more vulnerable infrastructure like the Trevi Fountain.

More specifically, Onorato said, the tax would discourage people from eating on the fountain’s steps, feeding pigeons, or jumping into the fountain (the system would force people to register with their info when paying the tax).

The tax would be collected through a reservation and QR system, similar to what other European landmarks have recently introduced. The fee would be 2 euros (about $2.25), which Onorato told the TP is “more or less the amount that people toss into the fountain to make a wish.”

Locals wouldn’t have to pay the fee, and those simply passing by the fountain would also be exempt.

More expensive to be a tourist

As destinations across the world grapple with increased ease and interest of travel, more and more are instituting taxes, making it more expensive than ever to be a traveler.

The Trevi Fountain news reflects something similar that Rome did in the summer of 2023 when it required a 5 euros ticket for all visitors to the Pantheon. Those tickets, despite allegations of mismanagement, sold out quickly and caused long lines at the site.

Elsewhere in Italy, Venice installed a day-tripper tax pilot program, which charged day-trippers coming into the city a tax of 5 euros ($5.45) from April through July 2024. In total, Venice collected 2.2 million euros ($2.4 million) from the tax.