“Fontana di Trevi” is another essential item on the “must see in Rome” list. It is the largest and most magnificent fountain in the city.

The Trevi Fountain is almost 26 m high, and about 20 m long. But it seems much larger because it is a kind of continuation of the facade of Palazzo Poli.

Architect Nicola Salvi chose a marine theme for the fountain, depicting the god Neptune on a chariot accompanied by tritons and hippocamps. On either side of the sea god are statues of women, one of them personifying health, the other abundance. Beneath them are bas-reliefs. The girl on the right bas-relief points to the spring that later came to be called “Acqua Vergine,” where “acqua” means water, and “vergine” means girl. An aqueduct was laid from it, through which the Romans received clean water as early as the 1st century BC! By the way, you can still drink this water today without fearing for your health; it is still just as pure and transparent.

It is almost impossible to make your way to the fountain during the day. There are so many tourists that even taking a photo with it in the background will be difficult. You can, of course, wait until a spot opens up by the edge of the fountain, but it is better to come here after sunset. The sight is stunning! And there are far fewer people.

There is a superstition: if you stand with your back to the fountain and throw a coin into it over your shoulder, you will definitely return to Rome again. There turned out to be so many people wanting to visit the capital of Italy again that there was a time when the bottom of the famous fountain simply glittered with gold-colored euro cents. Naturally, thieves immediately cleaned it out completely. But then diving into the fountain was strictly forbidden, and now the coins are regularly collected by municipal services. They say that over a year it adds up to a tidy sum — up to 700.000 euros!

To make tourists part with their coins more willingly, the crafty Italians came up with another story: supposedly, two coins thrown into the fountain will ensure a romantic meeting, and three will bring a speedy wedding. Who could resist such a temptation? Of course, girls throw handfuls of change into the fountain! But whether the superstition works or not, no one has checked (not even British scientists).

Besides this, there is another lovely tradition here. For couples in love to live together long and happily, they need to drink some water from special “tubes for lovers.” Unfortunately (or fortunately), there are no statistics on this either. But that does not make there any fewer lovers.

Over its centuries-long history, the Trevi Fountain has managed to “appear” not only in numerous tourists' photographs, but also in several films, for example, “Roman Holiday,” “La Dolce Vita,” “Madly in Love,” and several others.