Officers in Rome are mulling whether or not to restrict entry to the Trevi fountain, as the town grapples with the influence that overtourism is having on the late baroque masterpiece.
The plans into consideration embody having folks reserve upfront to go to the monument. “Personally I might be in favour of taking a look at a brand new type of entry, restricted and timed, to the Trevi fountain,” Alessandro Onorato, the town councillor chargeable for tourism, instructed the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Entry to the fountain would almost certainly be free for residents whereas everybody else can be requested to make a “symbolic” contribution of 1 or two euros, he stated.
The purpose wouldn’t be to lift cash, he stated, however to raised management the lots who descend every day on the monument, curbing behaviours similar to loitering and snacking on pizza or gelato in a spot that “deserves respect”, he stated.
On Wednesday, Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, stated measures to curb vacationer numbers have been “a really concrete chance”.
The town was taking a look at a handful of potential options, he instructed reporters. “We’ve determined to review and examine this as a result of the state of affairs is turning into technically very tough to handle,” he stated. “Native cops inform us this on a regular basis: there’s a focus of people who makes sufficient safety of the monument tough and can be typically a supply of degradation.”
The Trevi fountain has develop into the newest flashpoint as officers throughout Europe wrestle with the impacts of overtourism. In Greece, authorities have applied a time-slot system for the Acropolis to ease congestion on the Athens website, echoing a method already in place at Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica. In Venice, lengthy the continent’s dominant image of overtourism, native authorities have experimented with an entry cost for guests.
The dialog in Rome has taken on renewed significance because the Everlasting Metropolis gears up for the 2025 jubilee, a year-long Roman Catholic occasion that’s anticipated to attract greater than 30 million vacationers and pilgrims to the town.
Officers within the metropolis have lengthy needed to intervene to guard the Trevi fountain from vacationers. In 2017 it started imposing fines for dangerous behaviour on the website, together with a crackdown on those that search to frolic within the water in hopes of recreating Anita Ekberg’s scene from La Dolce Vita.
In 2018 an eight-person brawl broke out on the fountain amid a scramble for the right selfie spot.
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