Trevi Fountain flows again

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the landmark Trevi Fountain in Rome on Tuesday evening following its restoration.

The fountain, one of the Italian capital's most spectacular and renowned monuments and the backdrop to the most famous scene in the 1960s classic film La Dolce Vita, was officially reopened on Tuesday after a 17-month privately funded makeover.

The stone rendering of Tritons guiding the shell chariot of Oceanus, the god of water, glowed with new high-tech lighting after the most comprehensive clean-up in the fountain's more than 250-year history.

The $3.3 million restoration, sponsored by fashion house Fendi, followed concern over stone laurel leaves tumbling from the facade.

"We heard two years ago just by chance that the fountain was losing pieces and we immediately called the Rome government," Fendi chief executive Pietro Beccari said.

Tourists in the piazza, named after the three roads ("tre vie") that once met there, threw coins into the newly-crystalline water in homage to the tradition that doing so guarantees a return trip to the city.

This article was first published on November 5, 2015.
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