Too Many Roads Lead to Rome

I’ve wanted to take my wife to Italy pretty much since the day we met. After a memorable college year in Rome in the 1980s I knew I’d go back one day, especially since I tossed a few coins into the famous Trevi Fountain before I left. Today however, I sit wondering if I really will set foot in the Eternal City again. Thanks to overwhelming numbers of tourists, Rome might as well put a “sold out” sign on its city gates. Blame it on the Catholics?

Trevi Fountain, Rome

2025, less than four months from now, is a Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church.  Maybe your idea of a jubilee is a celebration, much like Britain’s in 2022 when they honored Queen Elizabeth’s unprecedented seventy years of service to the Crown.  Not so the Catholics.  They define a jubilee – every 25 or 50 years – as a “marked opportunity for the remission of sins, debts, and of universal pardon”.

Catholic jubilees traditionally include a pilgrimage to Rome.  I’d love to know who runs the calculations (and how) but the forecast for next year in Rome has Catholic pilgrims at around 32 million… in addition to the 50 million tourists who normally pass through.  To put that total in perspective, the population of Rome is only 3 million.  That’s a whole lot of extra pepperoni on the pizza (or piazza, if you will).

[Side note: 1983, the year I lived in Rome, was an out-of-cycle Catholic jubilee known as the Holy Year of the Redemption.  Do I remember millions of Catholics “roaming” through the city streets?  I do not.  Then again I’m a Methodist, so maybe I have an excuse for missing the obvious…]

You call this a crowd? Just wait ’til 2025.

Thanks to next year’s jubilee, officials are clamping down on a visitor’s ability to see or tour the city’s most famous attractions.  The Fontana di Trevi is a good example of how things will change.  In the 1980s I could stand in front of the Baroque fountain to my heart’s content.  In 2025 I will need a ticket through a reservation system.  That ticket gets me entry through one side of the piazza and exit through the other, at a specific time and for a specific (amount of) time.  Hired “stewards and hostesses” make sure I don’t linger, and collect a 2-euro fee for the experience.

If I really wanted to be herded like sheep I’d join a flock on the green, green grass of Ireland, instead of paying for the privilege in Rome.  And speaking of paying, the Trevi already collects over $1.5M in coins voluntary thrown into its waters (the money then donated to local charities).  Add in the new 2-euro fee, and even if just 10% of next year’s visitors make it to the Trevi, Rome will nab an additional $18M.  Jubilee indeed.

St. Peter’s Square, Rome

If I sound jaded about Rome’s forced hand, it’s only because I have the perspective of a time when everything seemed so much easier.  In the 1980s I could wander through St. Peter’s Square without photo-bombing dozens of iPhones.  I could also wander without encountering a random protest about a religious war or climate change.  I still remember plunking down on the cobblestones of that grand piazza to paint a watercolor of the Basilica, and nobody bothered me.  I also remember Frisbee with a fellow student in another piazza, while the local Italians watched the spinning disc in wonder.  Innocent times indeed.

Roman Forum

In 2024, a guided tour of the Vatican (the only way to see it) – including the sublime Sistine Chapel – will set you back $50.  A tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum will cost you twice that much.  I’m sure next year’s pilgrims will pay these fees without blinking a sin-forgiven eye.  I just can’t get past my free-and-easy days as an architecture student, when each of the city’s wonders was as wide open and come-on-in accessible as you can imagine.

The truth is I’d go back to Rome in a heartbeat, even if I knew untold millions of pilgrims would be standing alongside me.  The Eternal City is worth the look even if you never step inside any of its buildings.  On the other hand, if I’m patient and wait until 2032, it’ll be the 50th anniversary of my college year.  That calls for a jubilee!  I’ll be the only pilgrim of course (er, two of us counting my wife) but at least we’ll have no hassles dropping coins into the Trevi.

Some content sourced from the Skift Newsletter article, “Rome Tourism Chief Says There’s ‘Total Chaos’ at Trevi Fountain…”, and Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.

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Author: Dave

Five hundred posts would suggest I have something to say… This blog was born from a desire to elevate the English language, highlighting eloquent words from days gone by. The stories I share are snippets of life itself, and each comes with a bonus: a dusted-off word I hope you’ll go on to use more often. Read “Deutschland-ish Improvements” to learn about my backyard European wish list. Try “Slush Fun” for the throwback years of the 7-Eleven convenience store. Or drink in "Iced Coffee" to discover the plight of the rural French cafe. On the lighter side, read "Late Night Racquet Sports" for my adventures with our latest moth invasion. As Walt Whitman said, “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Here then, my verse. Welcome to Life In A Word.

18 thoughts on “Too Many Roads Lead to Rome”

  3. Do you suppose the increase in world population (from days gone by) has less impact on tourism than the wealth of todays population and their ability to travel?

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  4. Covid might have caused a lot of hassle for traveling but late 2021 couldn’t have been a better time for my daughter & I to visit. I agree, I would go back too. There’s so much to see and the history is truly endless.

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  5. I’d go back just for the gelato! I can’t imagine how busy it will be during the jubilee. Reminds me of a Facebook post I saw this summer of a lady complaining how hard it was to get around Paris this summer, but she booked her trip during the Olympics… I’m sure the same will happened during the jubilee.

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    1. It’s a great point, Lyssy. I’ve had gelato several times since that long-ago college year, and I can’t claim any version holds up to what I had in Rome. I will always remember my first taste of fragola (strawberry) and limone (lemon). So much better than any flavor of ice cream!

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  6. I was in Rome last year for one afternoon as part of Mediterranean cruise — they were booked up and over crowded. If you didn’t have reservations, you didn’t get in to see anything. The tourist sites are just over run. I’ve heard so many good things about Rome, but my afternoon was a bit like driving through rush hour to get cold pizza. Actually, it’s a problem in most of the Mediterranean right now — too many tourists — and a lot of cities are starting to put in controls like you’ve mentioned.

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    1. I imagine seeing the Louvre – and esp. the Mona Lisa – would be compromised by the number of visitors to the museum. You want to focus on the art or the architecture but the distractions would be constant. It’s enough for me to say “no thanks” to a lot of the sights worth seeing in the world.

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  7. Well I learned a lot in this post Dave. I didn’t know about the Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church and I had no idea of the exorbitant fees imposed for attractions that Rome is known for and it’s not even the Jubilee Year. Having to book so far in advance, and only blitz through the rich history is just wrong. You are lucky to have spent a year studying there. My travels to Europe were decades ago, in the height of the tourist season, yet it was not crowded at all. That’s such a shame. Italy and France remain on my bucket list, but as the years pass, I don’t know if it will happen, but these are two countries that I would like to see the sights in person, not as an armchair traveler.

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    1. I imagine Paris or London would be the same, Linda (to name just a couple). You’d almost have to live in those cities to experience their sights the way they were meant to be seen. Otherwise you’re just a sheep in a flock of many. Our tours of Budapest, Vienna, and Munich on our recent river cruise didn’t feel this way, but only because we were in small groups, and more importantly, we only passed by the most popular sights instead of spending time in or around them. It’s the reason I’ll probably never go up in the Eiffel Tower or tour Buckingham Palace. Not worth putting up with the crowds or the costs.

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      1. It’s sad really Dave. I keep hearing about all the flooding and think of your trip. With climate change, an abundance of crowds and high prices, traveling is just not the same anymore. I’m sorry I didn’t see those sights years ago. I had booked a Perillo Tours Italy trip for 1984, then my father left, so I cancelled it as a result.

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  9. I like the idea of your own Roman jubilee of the year you spent in Italy. That sounds so pragmatic and fun. I’ve not been to Rome but knew the tourist crowds can be overwhelming. Such a beautiful place but one I’ll experience from afar.

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  10. I think we may be of the age when almost everything was better back in the day.

    One son spent about 3 weeks there earlier this year and did not complain about crowds. He had the twin benefits of being a Catholic priest and being accompanied by a priest friend who lives there while studying at the Evangelium.

    I suspect that 2026 will be a much better time for such a trip.

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