ROME: A su­spen­­ded walkway providing tourists an up-close view of Rome’s Trevi Fountain was unveiled on Saturday, a temporary addition while the famous “La Dolce Vita” site undergoes a cleaning.

The Baroque masterpiece constructed on the facade of a palace is one of the most popular sites in Rome for tourists, who strain over the crowds to throw their coins into its water.

French tourist Franck Petretto, 50, was one of the first to walk across the passageway, calling the view “wonderful and very, very beautiful.” “Even without the water flowing inside the fountain, you can really see that the architecture is serious... and that’s really very pleasing,” he said.

While the fountain is being cleaned to remove limestone deposits and grime, however, the walkway positioned over its basin will accommodate some 130 people at a time to take a closer look.

That will give tourists “an experience not ruined by excessive crowding,”

said Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri. “We wanted to give everybody the opportunity to admire the fountain and to do this from a unique perspective, because what you can see from the walkway, you will never be able to see normally,” he said.

Micaela di Caterina, a 32-year-old visiting from Argentina, agreed, saying the up-close look at the intricate sculptures of Oceanus, father of the river gods, and his sea-horses was “incredible”. Still, she acknowledged, it was “kind of weird” to be walking over the fountain.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024