'The saddest thing I've seen in Italy': Tiny Trevi Fountain stand-in pool draws scorn

A new temporary pool in front of Rome's iconic Trevi fountain has been widely mocked. Valentina Stefanelli/LaPresse/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource

ROME -

When the city of Rome constructed what looks like a backyard swimming pool in front of the famous Trevi Fountain for tourists to toss their coins into while the baroque landmark is emptied for renovations, the reaction was swift — and brutal.

Erected late last week, the pool is adorned with unpainted plywood and sits behind a tall fence covered by transparent plastic, over which tourists throw coins in the hope of hitting the water.

The loose change now scattered around the perimeter underscores just how challenging that is.

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City officials have confirmed the pool was built primarily to protect workers inside the emptied fountain from getting hit by coins.

It will also ensure that the site continues to harvest 1.5 million euros (US$1.6 million) a year in coins, which is given to Catholic charity Caritas.

“The basin, which is of course temporary and was installed during the exceptional maintenance work on the fountain, is used to collect coins thrown by tourists,” Claudio Parisi Presicce, Capitoline superintendent for cultural heritage told CNN. “It is a well-established and much-loved tradition.”

Online commentators, meanwhile, have been hurling their own shots at the new construction, deriding it on X as a footbath, “architectural infantilism,” and a “small children’s pool where they pee in the water in the summer.”

Another, posting as Mambo Italiano, described it as: “The saddest thing I’ve seen in Italy in as long as I can remember.”

Admission fee

Legend — or at least the movie world — has it that if you throw one coin over your shoulder into the fountain, it ensures a return to Rome. Two coins means you’ll fall in love with an attractive Italian, and three coins means you will marry that person. Other legends lean towards paying homage to the gods of water.

The extensive 300,000-euro renovation (around $327,550) that got underway in early October is expected to finish up just in time for 2025 celebrations in Rome to mark a “jubilee” year in the Roman Catholic church, which is expected to draw millions of visitors to the city.

In the meantime, a metal gangway is being erected over the empty fountain for tourists to get a close view of the fountain’s sculpture Oceanus, the Titan God of Earth, depicted with galloping horses.

The walkway will eventually be altered to pave the way for charging tourists a two-euro admission fee to get close enough to toss their coins which, if it comes to fruition, would begin in April 2025.

City authorities have not yet fully signed off on measures including the cordoning off of the whole square following complaints from local shops and residents after it was first announced. Coins are removed twice a day and the pool is emptied and refilled every morning.