San Francisco Frontiers - Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain

Construction of the walkway began Monday "to allow for a major extraordinary maintenance intervention" on the fountain, Rome city council said.

The 18th-century fountain stars in to the most famous scene in Federico Fellini's film "La Dolce Vita", when actress Anita Ekberg takes a dip.

Now it is besieged with tourists most days. The monument is "located in an area with high pedestrian traffic and subject to particular microclimatic conditions" that lead to "invasive vegetation and calcareous deposits" forming on parts most exposed to water, the council said.

The work -- including cleaning stones in the lower part of the monument and grouting joints -- should be completed by the end of the year, the council said.

Limited groups of visitors will be allowed to cross the fountain on a raised walkway while the maintenance is carried out.

The walkway will be ready within a month and "will offer the opportunity to acquire new data on attendance, useful for solving the overcrowding problems", authorities said.

Because of the fountain's fame, the crowds in the square surrounding it are often so deep that it is hard to get a proper look.

Rome authorities said this month they were considering introducing a ticketing system for visitors to control the crowds.

Visitor numbers are expected to surge in 2025 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 over the 12 months.

It is not the first time a walkway has been installed above the basin, with fashion house Fendi installing a plexiglass bridge in 2014 during an 18-month long restoration.

F.Garcia--SFF