Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is the grandest and most theatrical of Rome's Baroque fountains, filling the end of a small square in the historic centre with a wall of carved travertine and tumbling water. Designed by Nicola Salvi and completed in 1762, it stands nearly 26 metres high and 49 metres wide against the façade of the Palazzo Poli. At its centre the sea god Oceanus rides a shell-shaped chariot drawn by two sea horses, one calm and one wild, led by tritons, while water cascades over artificial rocks into a broad pale-blue basin. The fountain marks the end point of the restored Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct that has supplied this part of Rome with water since 19 BC. Visitors come above all for the famous coin ritual: tossing a coin over the left shoulder with the right hand is said to guarantee a return to Rome, and the roughly 3,000 euros thrown in each day are collected and donated to a Catholic charity that helps the city's poor. There is no admission and nothing to book; the experience is simply standing before it, ideally from the lower terrace steps that face the central figures head-on. The square is small and becomes extremely crowded, with the densest crush from late morning through the evening. The fountain is at its most magical either at dawn, around 6 to 7am, when the steps are nearly empty and the light is soft, or after dark when underwater lighting makes the white stone glow against the night. Sitting on the fountain rim, eating or wading is prohibited and lightly policed. A typical stop lasts 30 to 60 minutes, and the surrounding lanes hold some of central Rome's best gelaterias. As a free, around-the-clock landmark in the heart of Italy's capital, the Trevi Fountain rewards visitors who come early or late rather than at midday.