WelCom May 2024
For hundreds of years, visitors have descended on Rome’s Trevi Fountain to make a wish, following a ritual coin toss. But the coins the tourists rarely give a second thought to actually provide practical help to people they will never meet.
Coins pile up for several days before they are fished out and taken to Caritas. The charity counts out bucketfuls of change which then funds a soup kitchen, a food bank and welfare projects.
In 2022, 1.4 million euros (AU$2.3m) was gathered, and the city expects to have collected even more during 2023.
The coin extraction itself is a spectacle and involves the use of suction hoses and long brooms by utility workers who balance on the edge of the baroque fountain. The collection happens twice a week.
The Trevi Fountain, completed in 1762, covers one side of Palazzo Poli in central Rome with its statues of Tritons guiding the shell chariot of the god Oceanus, illustrating the theme of the taming of the waters. Wading into its waters today is forbidden and tourists face fines if they do.
Source: ABC News