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TOURISM

‘They’re not swimming pools’: Tourists told to keep out of Rome’s fountains

Rome's new 'zero tolerance' policy means anyone caught taking a dip in the fountains may be fined up to €450.

Published: 19 July 2019 16:59 CEST
'They're not swimming pools': Tourists told to keep out of Rome's fountains
Rome's Trevi Fountain is a magnet for badly-behaved tourists and locals. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

It may be tempting to jump into one of Rome's fountains during the scorching summer months, when the hot and sticky weather in the capital can become almost unbearable.

But after a string of incidents in which people were caught jumping into the city's fountains – many of which are protected historic monuments – Rome's mayor has had enough.

“Our monuments must be respected and Rome's historic fountains are not swimming pools”, mayor Virginia Raggi wrote on her Facebook page yesterday.

She posted a video of a man dressed as an ancient Roman senator who was escorted out of the Trevi Fountain by police on Monday and fined 550 euros for the stunt.

The Italian was reportedly staging a protest, rather than cooling off. But Raggi said that Rome's ban on bathing in fountains applied to everyone.

In the post, she pledged a “zero tolerance” approach to “anyone who offends the historical and artistic heritage of the city, which belongs to everyone.”

The culprits are more commonly foreign visitors, who often say they were unaware that swimming in the fountains wasn't allowed.

READ ALSO: From selfie brawls to midnight swims: Tourists behaving badly at Trevi Fountain

Rome's police have fined dozens of tourists since the city recently brought in new penalties. Anyone caught taking a dip can now be fined on the spot and temporarily banned from the area.

Fines for swimming in the fountains have been in place since 2015, but this hasn't stopped determined visitors from attempting to recreate scenes from La Dolce Vita.

A stricter new fountain-bathing ban was introduced this year as part of a raft of new laws intended to combat unruly behaviour in the city centre.

The fines, which are reduced if paid immediately, now range from €160 to €450 for those caught swimming in or climbing on Rome's historic fountains.

Cooling off at a fountain might feel good, but it could cost you. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

There's also a minumum fine of €400 for vandalising historic sites, monuments or churches, brought in to combat long-running problems with vandalism at sites like Rome's Colosseum.

And it's not just Rome. In Milan, a French tourist was charged recently after skinny-dipping in a fountain, while Venice has had to ban people from swimming in the canals.

Following the rule change, the British embassy in Italy posted a warning on its website telling British visitors travelling to Rome not to bathe in fountains in the city – or anywhere else in Italy.

Here are some better ways to stay cool if you're feeling the heat in Italy this summer:

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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