ROME - Italy's Trevi Fountain launched a new ticketing system, making the famous Rome landmark the latest tourist site to charge entry in a bid to raise funds and battle overcrowding.
People posed in the sunshine in front of the Baroque masterpiece after paying the two-euro ($1.68) fee to access the now largely crowd-free area next to the basin.
The backdrop to the most famous scene in Federico Fellini's film "La Dolce Vita", when actress Anita Ekberg takes a dip, is top of the list for many visitors exploring the Eternal City.
But in the past, crowds in the public square have been so dense that it has been hard to get a proper look.
Most of the square is still open to the public and many people snapped pictures from there rather than paying for a closer look.
Ticket-holders can visit between 9am and 10pm, apart from Monday and Friday, when the area opens at 11.30am.
City Hall estimates the access ticket could bring in at least six million euros a year, Rome's council member for tourism Alessandro Onorato told journalists.
The earnings will go in part to pay for the 25 blue-vested stewards hired to staff the ticket office and usher people through the gated area at the top of the steps and down to the basin.
Funds raised would also permit free access for locals to a series of museums across the Italian capital, he said.
The Pantheon -- a church and former Roman temple -- began charging visitors in 2023, and Venice last year introduced a tourist entry fee during peak periods.