Access to the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome becomes paying

Venice was a pioneer in introducing a tax for day visitors. The city of Rome is preparing to follow a similar approach to protect the Trevi Fountain, a victim of its tourist success. Built between 1732 and 1762, the Trevi Fountain is one of the most emblematic monuments in Rome and also the most visited.

Already last year, the town hall had established queues and a compulsory direction of traffic around the fountain, limiting the crowd in direct contact with the pool to 400 people at a time. 9 million people lined up in 2025 to approach the fountain, with peaks of up to 70,000 visitors per day to the site. The authorities welcome the positive results of this filtering over one year.

Building on this experience, Rome took the next step by introducing a compulsory paid ticket from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (access becomes free again in the evening after 9 p.m.). Thus, from February 1, 2026, visitors will have to pay an entrance ticket of €2 to go down the steps leading to the edge of the fountain basin. Romans benefit from an exemption and will not have to pay this entry fee – a dedicated line will be reserved for them – just as minor children should be exempt.

The town hall also announced the introduction of a €5 entry ticket to five lesser-known heritage sites in the city and until now free: Maxentius’ villa, the Carlo Bilotti Museum, the Napoleonic Museum, the Baracco Museum and the Canonica Museum. As with the Trevi Fountain, residents are exempt from this new tax.

The establishment of paid access aims to preserve fragile monuments by avoiding disrespectful behavior, and to control tourist overcrowding. However, the financial dimension is not anecdotal. The €2 tickets could bring in around 6.5 million euros per year according to town hall estimates. To which is added the value of the coins thrown into the fountain by tourists, i.e. the considerable sum of €1.5 million.

A major work of late Baroque, the famous fountain was designed by the architect Nicola Salvi and is integrated into the Piazza di Trevi, backing onto the Palazzo Poli. Commissioned by Pope Clement XII, it is the result of a competition intended to celebrate the ancient aqueduct Aqua Virgo, built in 19 BC. The monumental composition features Neptune, surrounded by allegories of the Ocean, in a spectacular rococo setting. When Nicola Salvi died in 1751, the site was taken over by the architect Giovanni Paolo Panini, who brought the project to completion. The fountain was completed and inaugurated on May 22, 1762. In the 20th century, the Trevi Fountain definitively entered the collective imagination thanks to the cinema, with the now legendary scene from the film La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini, released in 1960.

Until now free, the Trevi Fountain thus joins the model of the great Roman sites, subject to higher entry prices. The combined Colosseum + Roman Forum ticket, valid for 24 hours, costs €16 per adult. This ticket also includes access to the Palatine Hill, allowing you to discover three major sites of ancient Rome with a single entry ticket. Access to the Pantheon (Basilica of Sainte-Marie-des-Martyrs) has been payable since 2023, with a rate of €5 per adult. Entrance remains free during religious services.

Venice, for its part, will renew the system after a pilot phase in 2024. In 2025, the tax for one-day visitors will apply to 54 days (compared to 29 in 2024). In 2026, it will concern 60 days between April and July

. The basic rate has doubled, from €5 to €10 per person (from 15 years old) for a last minute reservation. However, a reduced rate of €5 is maintained for reservations made at least 4 days in advance. Exempted persons include residents, local students and workers, as well as tourists staying on site already subject to tourist tax.