Trevi Fountain
Free, Baroque, extraordinary. Go at midnight when it's quiet and lit. The daytime crowds are not the point.
The Trevi Fountain is genuinely astonishing. The problem is reaching it — between 9am and 10pm in summer, the piazza is so crowded that moving from one edge to the other takes five minutes. The solution is simple: go at midnight.
The History
The Trevi Fountain marks the terminal point of the Acqua Vergine, one of ancient Rome's great aqueducts — built in 19 BC by Agrippa (Augustus's general and son-in-law) to supply the baths and fountains of central Rome. The aqueduct still supplies the fountain today; the Acqua Vergine has been in continuous operation for over 2,000 years.
The current fountain was designed by Nicola Salvi, commissioned by Pope Clement XII after a competition in 1730. Salvi died in 1751 before it was complete; it was finished by Giuseppe Pannini and inaugurated by Pope Clement XIII in 1762. It is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome, standing 26 metres high and 49 metres wide, and is built directly against the rear wall of Palazzo Poli.
The central figure is Neptune, god of the sea, in a shell chariot pulled by two sea-horses guided by Tritons. The horse on Neptune's left is calm; the one on his right is wild — representing the two moods of the sea. Behind Neptune, two allegorical figures: Abundance (left) and Health (right). The Latin inscription across the top records that Pope Clement XII restored and dedicated the fountain.
The Coin Tradition
The tradition predates the current fountain but was fixed in popular culture by the 1954 Hollywood film Three Coins in the Fountain, which romanticised the idea. The rules: throw the coin with your right hand over your left shoulder, standing with your back to the fountain.
One coin: you will return to Rome. Two coins: you will fall in love. Three coins: you will marry. Around €3,000 worth of coins are thrown in every day — an average of about €1 million per year. They are collected by the city of Rome every night using a pump and donated to Caritas, a Catholic charitable organisation that runs food banks in the city.
The practice is legal and uncontroversial. Wading into the fountain is not — it carries a fine of up to €450.
The Restoration — and Fendi
In 2014–2015, the Trevi Fountain underwent a major restoration funded by the Italian fashion house Fendi, who donated €2.18 million. The restoration cleaned 250 years of grime from the travertine limestone, repaired cracking stonework, improved the lighting, and installed a walkway for maintenance. It was the most significant restoration since the fountain was built. Fendi's logo appeared discreetly on the restoration signage; when the fountain was unveiled, Karl Lagerfeld presented a Fendi fashion show on a transparent catwalk built over the water.
In Film
Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) — the Hollywood film that created the coin-throwing tradition in popular culture. Three American women working in Rome, each seeking romance. The first major Hollywood production filmed on location in Rome, shot in CinemaScope.
La Dolce Vita (1960) — Federico Fellini's masterpiece. The scene where Anita Ekberg wades fully clothed into the Trevi Fountain at night, beckoning Marcello Mastroianni to follow, is one of the most famous in Italian cinema. Fellini shot it at 3am in February; Ekberg was apparently impervious to cold. Mastroianni wore a wetsuit under his suit and still shivered.
Roman Holiday (1953) — Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck at the Mouth of Truth, not the Trevi, but the film cemented the Eternal City in Hollywood's imagination and brought the tourists.
When to Visit
The honest answer: anytime between 11pm and 8am. The fountain is lit at night and the surrounding streets are quiet. Midnight in summer gives you the fountain with a fraction of the daytime crowd; pre-dawn gives you something close to solitude. If you're only in Rome for one day, go here at 7:30am before anything else opens. If you're in Rome for multiple days, save the Trevi for a night visit and use the morning for something that requires daylight.
What's Nearby
Poli Gelateria: 50 metres from the fountain on Via dei Crociferi. Some of the best gelato near the Trevi. Open late.
Palazzo Poli: The palace the fountain is built against. Houses the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (free, weekdays) and on the ground floor, Vicus Caprarius — an excavated ancient Roman apartment building discovered during construction of a cinema in 1999. Entry €4; the cisterns that supplied the ancient fountain are visible.
Sant'Eustachio il Caffè: 10-minute walk towards the Pantheon. Rome's most famous coffee bar. Their secret-recipe espresso (double-filtered, sweetened in the machine before dispensing) is genuinely distinctive. Go for morning coffee on the way to or from the Trevi.
Trevi Fountain: Common Questions
Yes — there is no charge to stand in the piazza and view the fountain. The tradition of throwing a coin in costs only the coin (around €3,000 worth of coins are thrown in daily; they're collected and donated to a Catholic charity). There is no ticket required, no booking, no opening hours.
Late night (11pm–1am) or early morning (before 8am) in summer. Between roughly 9am and 10pm in July and August, the piazza is so crowded that experiencing the fountain as anything other than a crowd is impossible. At midnight, especially after the surrounding restaurants close, the crowd drops dramatically and the fountain is lit beautifully.
One coin: you will return to Rome. Two coins: you will fall in love with a Roman. Three coins: you will marry them. The tradition was popularised by the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain, though similar traditions existed before. Around €3,000 is thrown in daily. Coins are collected nightly and donated to Caritas, a Catholic charitable organisation.
No — it is illegal and a fine of up to €450 applies. Several tourists have been fined for attempting it. The fountain is designed for viewing, not bathing. Anita Ekberg famously waded in it for Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) — that was a film permit and a different era.