What happens to the money that tourists throw into the Trevi Fountain?

Toss a coin into Rome’s Trevi Fountain for love, luck, good health, a wish or actually just because everyone does that. It is a permanent fixture for tourists visiting the Italian capital. The tourist attraction swallows so much change that a cleaning crew has to come and empty it twice a week. But what happens to all that money?

The management and maintenance of the Trevi Fountain is done by the Catholic organization Caritas. In addition to the biweekly collection, the fountain is also completely drained twice a month for more thorough maintenance.

All those tourists who throw their money into the water yield a lot of money. In the year 2022, Caritas fished around 1.4 million euros out of the water.

Once fished out, the money is separated from all the other things people throw into the water. What can be recycled or reused is given to charities. The money itself is then dried and counted.

With the hundreds of thousands of coins that the organization collects from the fountain every year, Caritas finances its activities all over the world. Also in Italy itself, tourist donations finance, for example, food banks where people with a low or no income can go.

So know that on your next visit to Rome you can easily support a good cause, even if you don’t believe that the change that has been living in your wallet for months will make your wish come true.