No matter who you ask, almost everyone in the world have heard at least once about the Trevi Fountain. It is said that is the most famous and beautiful fountain on earth, and yet, it still has many hidden secrets and curiosities that only a few people know about… And that´s what we are going to be telling you today! Here is our list of 10 facts about the Trevi Fountain, let´s see if it surprises you as much as it did to us.
10) Where does its name come from?
The first interesting fact about Trevi Fountain you need to know is related to the origin of its name. The word “Fontana de Trevi” comes from the words “Tre Vie” which means something like “Three ways” or “Three streets”.
And the reason of the name is that the exact spot where the Fontana was built is where three different streets unified between each other.
9) People were able to take the money from the fountain in the past
It may sound weird, but believe us, it´s true… Until 2006, all the money that was at the Fountain (No matter if they were big or small coins) was considered as “Public property”. As it was said by the authorities and written by the laws, the coins from the fountain were “Abandoned goods” which means that they didn´t belong to anyone and whoever wanted could visit the fountain and take as many coins as they wish. It´s for sure one of the most amazing facts about the Trevi Fountain.
8) Who owns the coins nowadays
As we said before, the law changed in 2006 and now the coins are not considered “Abandoned goods” anymore, and the belong to the city of Rome, so you CAN NOT take them out of the fountain.
The good news about it, is that the authorities decided from the beginning that all the money would be used for charity to spend it on the people who needed it the most.
Some years ago, the government thought about investing all the money in restoring the old monuments of Rome, but many people complained about it and the proposal didn´t go any further. Today they still dedicate the coins to charity.
7) Don´t do it!
In this case, other than being one of those fun facts about the Trevi Fountain, we are going to tell you a warning: Getting inside the Fountain s forbidden! Although probably many people have thought about getting a bath during the hot summer months, or about jumping inside to get all the coins from it, you should know that doing it is not a great idea.
The fine for jumping into the fountain can go up to 500$, and although is true that the amount of money you can find in the fountain is much bigger, there are so many police officers that we really doubt that you have enough time to get all those coins…It´s not worth it!
6) Can you drink water from the Trevi Fountain?
One of those things you can actually do at the Trevi Fountain is drinking water from it, but wait, it´s not how you think it is, obviously, you can´t drink from the main monument, plus it would be weird to do that.
What you can do is drinking from another small fountain there is on the side of the square (Going down the stairs, on the right of the main monument). This may not seem to be so special, but you need to know that the water comes from the same place than the one of Trevi´s fountain. It´s probably one of the most random facts about the Trevi Fountain.
5) How big is the Fountain?
Entering into the top 5 five facts about Trevi Fountain, we have to talk about its size. Apparently, for the fountain of Trevi being the most beautiful and famous fountain in all Rome and probably in the world is not enough, they needed more achievements.
Although there are like a million fountains all over Rome (literally almost every square has one), the Trevi Fountain is the biggest in the Italian capital. Its size is about 20 meters wide and 26 meters long…It surprises you a lot when you see it in real life.
4) Where does its tradition come from?
Probably you already know about the famous tradition, about the wishes and the coins, etc. (If not you can read our article here), well, the surprising fact about it, is that although it seems like a legend from something that occurred in the history thousands of years ago, the truth is that it actually comes from a movie. Yet, it didn´t stop anyone from following it, and every year people still go and throw their coins. As we always say, it must have been the best marketing campaign in the history.
The movie is not as old as you may have though, its name is “Three coins at the fountain” and it was created in 1954.
3) Appearance of the Virgin
The first history fact about the Trevi Fountain we are going to tell you about is related to its origins. During the time of Marco Vipsiano Agripa, one day his soldiers were very thirsty and as it is said in the books, the virgin appeared to them to indicate a place where they could get water from. Many people have referred to this water as the “Aqua puro” which means something like “Pure Water”.
Years later, on this same spot, since it was a great place to get water from, but also an important location on the history, they decided to create the Trevi Fountain.
2) There is a specific way to throw the coin
Although Gonzalo threw the coin in an awful way when we visited Rome, we are going to prevent you from doing the same, as it is said that if you don´t throw the coin to the fountain in a proper way, your wishes will never become reality.
The first thing you need to do is turning your back. Once you have done that, take a coin with your right hand (whichever coin you want), and throw it by crossing it through your left arm. You may think it´s a stupidity, but it´s important that you do it correctly.
1) Why aren´t there any birds at the Trevi Fountain?
And last of all, we are finishing our list of ten facts about Trevi Fountain with something that probably you haven´t realized yet. Rome is a city where there are many seagulls and pigeons flying around and of course, pupping around 😂. Well, it will surprise you to see that there are no birds at all at the Trevi Fountain, and there is a reason for it.
The Trevi Fountain is electrified, and they did that to avoid the birds coming near close. They say (I don´t know if I believe it), that this doesn´t hurt the birds, it just scares them off. Of course, we don´t support this kind of actions, we just tell you, so you know the real reason why seagulls don´t fly near the Trevi Fountain.
Do you know any other Trevi Fountain interesting facts?
These were some of the most important facts about the Trevi Fountain and the ones that surprised us the most, but we are sure there are many other curiosities, so if you know any of them, just share it with us in the comment section bellow.
In case you need more information about the Trevi Fountain, we leave the link to the article here, but of course, if you want to ask us something, we would love to answer it.
