Sawt Falasteen - Rome's Trevi Fountain unveils tourist catwalk during 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.

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.

French tourist Franc 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.

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.

- No coin toss -

The fountain -- where Anita Ekberg frolicked in Federico Fellini's 1960 film "La Dolce Vita" -- last got a thorough scrub a decade ago during an 18-month renovation sponsored by Fendi.

Then, too, the Italian fashion house installed a plexiglass bridge above the basin allowing tourists to still admire the fountain.

The current work involves removing limestone deposits on the fountain's facade, which can turn black with time, while removing loose material between stones where vegetation grows.

Tourists won't be allowed to toss coins over their shoulders into the fountain's basin -- where tradition has it that visitors who do so will return to Rome.

Instead, a small pool set up next to the walkway has been installed to receive spare change.

That pool "allows us to avoid throwing coins, which, without water, would damage the fountain," Gualtieri said, adding that anyone doing so would be fined.

It also allows the flow of donations to Rome's needy to continue.

Every week, authorities recuperated some 10,000 euros in coins from Trevi Fountain, which were donated to the Caritas charity to fund meals, said Gaultieri.

"We are proud not to have interrupted such an important work for those in difficulty," he said.

The walkway will be up until the cleaning is complete, sometime in December.

Gaultieri said city officials were still considering a possible ticketing system to control the crowds at Trevi Fountain once the cleaning is over.

Visitor numbers are expected to surge next year for the Jubilee, a holy year held by the Catholic Church around once every 25 years, with some 30 million people expected in Rome and the Vatican.

B.AbuZeid--SF-PST