Fontana di Trevi, Rome

The Fontana di Trevi or otherwise known as the Trevi Fountain was another on my top things to do while in Rome although it was one of the last things we went to see.

At our B&B we were given a map of Rome and shown how to get to certain places although we already went armed with guide books. The Trevi Fountain can be found by travelling to the Barberini metro stop which is on red line A and only 2 stops away from Termini. If you haven’t seen a picture of the fountain before, don’t be confused by the fountain right outside the metro stop. This isn’t what you want to see. The Trevi Fountain is about a 10 minute walk away from the metro stop and with the help of a good map, is easy enough to find.

After getting off the main road, you will begin to walk down some narrow, cobbled streets and you will know from here you are going the right way. The streets in this area are full of tourist souvenir shops, small boutiques and plenty of restaurants. The restaurants are overpriced though due to being near such a popular tourist attraction. If you move over just a couple of streets, you will be able to find places which are much more reasonable.

The Trevi Fountain kind of creeps up on you, even when following a map. All of a sudden, we turned a corner and there in front of us was this huge fountain with the surrounding area filled with people. Even though we had already been to the Colosseum, this was by far the busiest place that we visited. The steps leading down to the water were hard to navigate but I was determined to get right down to the bottom. Legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain, it secures you a return visit to Rome. Although I don’t really believe this and rarely ever visit the same place twice, I still wanted to take part in the tradition. After throwing in my coin, amongst many others doing the same, I could take a step back and look at the wonder of the fountain.

I have never seen anything like this before and I could have stood there looking for hours. The fountain was made in Roman tradition to build a fountain at the end of an aqueduct and in 19BC, it is said that with the help of a virgin, a source of pure water was found here. This tale is what makes up the scene told by the statues on the fountain. I really loved looking at the way in which the fountain was put together and which of the statues I recognised. With the water flowing freely, this is certainly a sight to remember.

If you have time, I would highly recommend that you visit this fountain in both the day and the night. While I thought it was beautiful in the day, it was even more spectacular at night. The whole fountain is lit up which makes the sight so much better. However, there seemed to be so many more people around at night time so if you want to throw a coin in, it is best to do this during the day.

Although this is a very beautiful place to visit, be warned that the area is filled with people trying to rip you off or trying to make you buy things. Rome has a lot of people walking around with roses and forcing them into your hands then making you pay for them. I have found that the easiest way to avoid this is just to not look at them and carry on walking. These kinds of sellers did ruin the experience a little bit for me but once you learn to ignore them, they’re not too bad.