In thesummer of 2025, Rome saw asurge in penalties for illegal bathing in historic fountains. As reported by the newspaper Dagospia, newly restored monuments were transformed, on several occasions, into improvised pools by tourists. The fines, set at 450 euros each, reached record numbers: fifty local police interventions, more than half concentrated between late April and early May, a 30 percent increase over the same period in 2023.
Many of the fountains involved had recently undergone restoration work, financed with Pnrr funds, particularly from the Caput Mundi program. Among the most notable interventions is the one at the Trevi Fountain, a masterpiece byNicola Salvi, which was the subject of a more than 300 thousand euro construction site that lasted three months. During the work, a temporary walkway had allowed visitors to admire the structure up close. With the footbridge removed and the water jet reactivated, there was no shortage of diving. In May, a married couple celebrated in the water, aware of incurring a penalty, by improvising a dance inside the pool.
A few days later, three female tourists chose the Fontanone del Gianicolo for a swim, entering in their underwear and bra. An episode that has attracted attention on social media and adds to a long series of similar behaviors. The Fountain of the Naiads in Piazza della Repubblica, built by Mario Rutelli and reopened in mid-July after a 240-day, more than half-million-euro restoration, was the scene of another violation. In this case, a man not only took a dive, but used the marble edge to spread out his wet T-shirt, leaving his sneakers next to it as well(here for article).
One particularly controversial incident involved the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, a Baroque masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Recently restored, it was occupied for a few minutes by two tourists, just long enough to take photographs and shoot short videos to share on social media. The scene aroused mixed reactions, not least because of the work’s artistic and historical value. Other incidents have also occurred at theTriton fountain in Rome’s Piazza Barberini, created by Bernini himself and used by a man as if it were a private pool. As Dagospia wrote, the trend is not only about bathrooms, but also about themisuse of facilities. A recent case involved some young people climbing onto the newfountains in Piazza Pia, built for the Jubilee, to dance before attending a mass at Tor Vergata. On that occasion, however, no diving was reported, either during the Youth Jubilee or on other occasions. The phenomenon of diving into Roman fountains is certainly not new, but the summer of 2025 marked an unprecedented peak. Accomplice to the heat and thewide visibility provided by social media, many episodes were documented in real time, increasing their media coverage and, in some cases, fueling emulation. Local police, in addition to financial penalties, are enforcing removal orders to discourage repeat violations, but the numbers indicate that the problem remains widespread.
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| Rome, 450 euro fines boom for tourists' dips in historic fountains |
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