The famous Rome Trevi Fountain reopened Sunday after three months of cleaning, but visitors will be limited to 400 for now to avoid the crowds of the past, the city’s mayor said. Imposing this limit, which could be modified later, “will allow everyone to better enjoy the fountain, without crowds or confusion”, Roberto Gualtieri told journalists in front of the famous monument.

Restoration of the Trevi Fountain before the Catholic Jubilee

Gualtieri also said city officials were considering charging a modest admission fee to fund, among other things, the maintenance of the fountain. The cleaning of the fountain and other key sites in the city aims to “return most of the monuments to the city in time for the start of the Jubilee”, said Claudio Parisi Presicce, Romesuperintendent of cultural heritage sites, told AFP-TV.

The jubilee of Catholic Church starts on December 24. The Trevi Fountain, a Baroque masterpiece, is one of the most visited sites in Rome. Present in many films set in the city, it notably appears in a classic scene from Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”, when Anita Ekberg invites Marcello Mastroianni to join her in the fountain basin.

Trevi Fountain reopens after restoration

The reopening on Sunday took place in light rain in the presence of several hundred tourists, many of whom followed the mayor by throwing a coin into the fountain. Between 10,000 and 12,000 tourists visited the Trevi Fountain every day. Making a wish and throwing a coin into the water is such a tradition that city authorities used to collect about 10,000 euros ($10,500) a week. This money was given to the charity Caritas to provide meals to the poor.

The cleaning project, which lasted three months, involved removing mold and calcium encrustations. The Trevi Fountain is just one of the sites being cleaned in the Italian capital in anticipation of the arrival of the 33 million people expected in 2025 for the Jubilee. This event, declared by Pope Francis, is a year of pilgrimage and prayer, marked by religious and cultural events held in the Vatican and Rome. This happens approximately every 25 years.