Visiting the Trevi Fountain now will cost more than just a coin toss with a 2-euro tourist fee

ROME (AP) — Tourists visiting the Trevi Fountain are now going to pay more than just the legendary coin toss over their shoulder to get the Instagrammable selfie in front of one of the world’s most celebrated waterworks.

Starting Feb. 1, the city of Rome is imposing a 2-euro ($2.35) fee for tourists to get close to the fountain made famous by Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” during prime-time daylight hours. The view for those admiring the late Baroque masterpiece from the piazza above remains free.

The tourist fee announced Friday is part of the Eternal City’s efforts to manage tourist flows in a particularly congested part of town, improve the experience and offset the maintenance costs of preserving all of Rome’s cultural heritage. Officials estimate it could net the city 6.5 million euros ($7.6 million) extra a year.

The fee, which has been discussed and debated for more than a year, follows a similar ticketing system at Rome’s Pantheon monument and the more complicated tourist day-tripper tax that the lagoon city of Venice imposed last year in a bid to ease overtourism and make the city more liveable for residents.

In such cases, city residents have been exempt from the fees. The same holds true at Trevi, while the tourist tax and new 5-euro (nearly $6) tourist ticket fee for some city museums is being rolled out in conjunction with a plan to broaden the number of museums that are free for registered Roman residents.

“We believe that culture is a fundamental right of citizenship,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told a news conference. “We think it’s correct and positive that the citizens of Rome can enjoy our museums free of charge.”

At the same time, he said, the 2-euro ($2.35) Trevi tourist fee is a minimal amount that shouldn't discourage visitors, but rather allow for a more organized visit. The city decided to impose it after seeing positive results already from a yearlong experiment to stagger and limit the number of visitors who can reach the front basin edge of the fountain by imposing lines and an entrance and exit pathway.

So far this year, around 9 million people have waited in line to get that close-up visit, with some days as many as 70,000 passing through, Gualtieri said. That system now becomes permanent from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., with the fee to be paid by nonresidents. Visitors can either pay in advance online, while waiting in line or by buying tickets at tourist locations around town.

After nightfall, access is open and free.

Pope Urban VIII initially commissioned the fountain in 1640. In 1730, Pope Clement XII revived the project and the current fountain corresponds to the original designs of Roman architect Nicola Salvi.

The towering fountain features at the Titan god flanked by falls cascading down the travertine rocks into a shallow turquoise pool, where Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg famously took their nighttime dip in “La Dolce Vita.”

While bathing is prohibited nowadays, legend has it that visitors who toss a coin over their shoulders and make a wish will return to Rome.

A view of Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to get close to the fountain. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Rome's Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, second from left, announces at a press conference that starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to get close to the Trevi Fountain, in Rome, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, . (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Staff controls the flow of visitors at Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to get close to the fountain. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A visitor takes a photo of Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to visit the recessed fountain edge. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Visitors admire Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to visit the recessed fountain edge. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security will likely stretch into next week as the House contemplates passing a Senate plan it had previously rejected to fund the bulk of the agency, but not its immigration enforcement operations.

There was no resolution Thursday to the standoff, now in its 48th day, after both chambers met for just a few minutes in pro forma sessions. Nonetheless, the Republican leadership and President Donald Trump have coalesced around a plan to fully fund DHS as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the congressional leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they had pursued separate paths that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week for its spring recess without a fix.

During the brief sessions, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put aside the House plan to fund the entire department for 60 days. Then the House met briefly without taking up the bipartisan Senate plan that had been worked out with Democrats, though Thune is looking toward eventual passage.

“I don’t know the particulars around what the House will do with it,” Thune told reporters. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully, they’ll move it.”

House Republicans were expected to hold a conference call later in the day to discuss the next steps.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and John Thune, announced Wednesday that they would return to the Senate measure, which funds most of DHS with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans will try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.

Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though Trump has given his support.

Thune pointed to a “number of conversations” when he was asked how the Republican leadership and Trump aligned to move ahead after their apparent divisions a week earlier.

“The thing that some people want to do, we can’t do,” said Thune. “And so you have to figure out what’s in the realm of the possible. And you have to just continue to define reality for people.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York blamed Republicans for not acting more quickly.

“Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction,” Schumer said.

Even with the progress, the most conservative lawmakers are likely to seek full funding for all of Trump’s immigration and deportation operations.

“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”

Meanwhile, the budget package that Trump wants prepared for later this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a way to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to his immigration enforcement agenda. Trump said he wants that legislation on his desk by June 1.

Thune acknowledged the potential hurdles to that route, such as efforts to expand the scope of the bill. He said the goal is to keep it “as narrow and focused as possible” to speed passage.

“We need to kind of move with haste,” he said. “It’s probably not a likely magnet for all these other issues.”

The vast majority of DHS employees have reported to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have gone without pay. As more Transportation Security Administration agents called out from work, there was increasing frustration for air travelers confronted by long waits at some airport security lines. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay after Trump signed an executive order.

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., gestures as he speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill,Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)