The Trevi Fountain: why it started charging and where the coins go

What exactly is charged for

The square in front of the Trevi is built like a small amphitheatre. At the top, where the streets come in, stands the crowd with phones. A few steps lead down, and there is the rim of the basin, the water a metre away and the spot where you throw your coin. You pay only for the lower part.

• Free — the whole square above the steps. The fountain is fully visible from there and the photograph works.
• EUR 2 per person — the descent to the basin.

The city explains the charge not in terms of money but of crowding. In 2025 some nine million people passed the fountain: thirty thousand a day on average, up to seventy thousand at peak. The square is the size of a small courtyard.

The scheme runs until 31 December 2027, so it is not a one-season experiment.

When the charge applies and when entry is free

The charge does not run round the clock, and that is the most useful thing to know in advance.

The third column is not a loophole but the official rule: outside those hours the fountain remains freely accessible to everyone. The ticket desk simply does not operate, and people walk down without a ticket.

The diagram is wider than the screen — swipe →Open in full

Monday and Friday open later than the other days, at 11:30. On those days the coins are collected from the basin. Officially the two are not connected, but for you it means two and a half extra hours of free morning.

Children: free under six, full price after that

There is a single fare at the fountain, and that is the main trap for families. Free entry applies to:

• children under 6;
• residents of Rome and the metropolitan area, on production of ID;
• people with disabilities and one companion;
• accredited guides.

A child from 6 to 18 pays the same EUR 2 as an adult. There is no child or school fare here at all.

A family of four with children of seven and ten pays EUR 8. A small sum, but an unexpected one: at the Colosseum and other state museums parents are used to free entry under eighteen and expect the same here. We covered in detail how to buy Colosseum tickets and why a child still needs one there — albeit at zero price.

Where to buy a ticket

• Online — fontanaditrevi.roma.it, the only official site.
• In advance around the city — municipal museums, tourist information points and partner desks. They take cash as well.
• On the spot — the desk at the entrance to the descent, card only. No cash there.

The ticket is open: no date and no time. There is no slot to book as at the Colosseum — buy once and come on any day of your trip. The flip side: it cannot be refunded or exchanged.

There is no time limit at the basin. You can stand as long as you like, and with a child that matters more than it sounds: nobody hurries you.

Has it become less crowded

There are figures for the first three weeks. Between 2 and 22 February 2026, 167,791 people went down to the basin, 158,352 of them on a paid ticket. The city collected EUR 316,704.

That works out at about 8,400 people a day against thirty thousand on average in 2025. Different areas were measured — previously the whole square, now only the descent — but the order of the difference is clear: it is several times freer at the water.

For a family with a child that, rather than the two euros, is the real news. In July it used to be nearly impossible to reach the rim with a five-year-old in your arms: a dense crowd, selfie sticks and no chance of throwing a coin in peace. Now you can.

The coin: how to throw it and where the money goes

The ritual is simple: stand with your back to the fountain and throw the coin with your right hand over your left shoulder. One coin — you will return to Rome, two — you will find love, three — a wedding.

The coins have nothing to do with the new charge; they are different money. The EUR 2 ticket goes to the city for the upkeep of the monument and order on the square. The coins are collected from the basin on Mondays and Fridays and handed to Rome’s Caritas: food aid for families, canteens, shelters. The scale is about three thousand euros a day and a million and a half a year.

Children like this part best, and it also settles the awkward question of why one throws money into water. The coin a child throws will be somebody’s lunch a week later.

What to show a child at the fountain

The Trevi is a rare Roman sight that needs no explaining: people simply like it. But ten minutes of delight run out, and after that you need hooks. What works is not dates but these.

• The water is eighteen centuries older than the fountain. It comes along the Aqua Virgo aqueduct, built in 19 BC. Twenty-one kilometres, and it still works.
• Why “the virgin’s water”. Legend says a girl showed the spring to Roman soldiers. That scene is carved on the fountain itself — you can find it by eye. A ready-made task: who spots the girl on the wall first.
• Why “Trevi”. From the Latin trivium — a junction of three roads.
• The size. Twenty-six metres high — a nine-storey building — and forty-nine wide. The largest fountain in Rome.
• It is not a fountain but a facade. The Trevi is built onto the wall of a real palace: instead of a grand entrance the building has water.
• The lovers’ spouts to the right of the basin. Tradition says a couple who drink from them will live in harmony into old age.

The fountain took thirty years to build, from 1732 to 1762. Nicola Salvi began it and Giuseppe Pannini finished it: Salvi did not live to see it open.

For older children there is a version of their own: “Secrets of Rome” — the same district, but a serious conversation, from eleven years old.

Getting there and when to come

The nearest metro is Barberini on line A, about seven minutes’ walk. The square is small and hemmed in by buildings: you cannot see the fountain until you walk right out onto it. With children that is a useful moment — ask them to close their eyes at the last corner.

The best time with a child is around eight in the morning. The descent is free then, there is almost nobody at the water and the light is soft. The second free window, after ten at night, is usually too late for a family, though the floodlit fountain is worth it if the child is holding up.

Before setting out you can see what the square looks like right now: there is a live webcam at the fountain, free to watch. It shows at once whether to go now or wait an hour.

And if Rome is only just beginning for you, see our guide to where to go in Rome with children and all our Rome routes.