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Tourists are facing disappointment in Rome as one of Italy’s most famous attractions was closed and replaced with an ‘ugly’ makeshift.
Those eager to return to the Eternal City are being forced to toss coins over a plastic barrier and into a small makeshift pool in front of Rome’s Trevi Fountain while the attraction is being drained for maintenance.
The rectangular box, unadorned and showing its plywood finish, has elicited mixed reactions. “I think it is a very sweet gesture that people can still do that,” said Marianna Strekstadt, visiting from the Netherlands on Friday. A cashless traveler, she was taking a pass.
Others, like Daniela Carbone, found the substitute pool “ugly.” Yet, she gave her kids some coins to throw in anyway. “We have to please the children,” she said.
In normal times coins pile up for several days before they are fished out and taken to the Rome division of the worldwide Catholic charity Caritas, which counts the bucketfuls of change and uses them to fund a food bank, soup kitchen and welfare projects.
Earlier this year visitors were warned of travelling to Rome as the Italian city is going through a monumental facelift ahead of a likely 32 million tourists for the 2025 Roman Catholic Holy Year.
The Vatican holiday is putting Rome’s antiquated infrastructure under enormous strain. The city is one of the world’s most visited, with 21 million tourists.
During a Jubilee, Catholics can obtain special indulgences, or remission of their sins, if they fulfil certain conditions and do good works or make pilgrimages.
The city council has marshalled 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in special Jubilee funding from the state as well as some 3 billion euros from post-pandemic EU funds.
City lore has it that tossing a coin into the Baroque fountain will ensure a return trip to Rome. This tradition generates an estimated 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) annually, which has been donated to the Catholic charity Caritas for the past 15 years.
To manage the overwhelming number of tourists visiting the fountain, Rome City officials are devising a plan to block off the area around the fountain. Visitors will be required to book online and then pay a fee of 2 euros ($2.20) to get in. Once inside, they will have 30 minutes to enjoy the fountain.
One of Rome’s busiest squares, Piazza Venezia, has been largely closed to traffic since the start of the year as a specially designed, 185-tonne hydro cutter begins digging an 85-metre deep (280 feet) ring that will eventually encase the new Metro C station, just down the track from the Colosseum.
