Each tourist destination has a small tradition that tourists love to perpetuate as they travel. In cities where there are fountains, for example, it is customary to throw a coin promising to return soon and this particular tradition was born in Rome with the famous Trevi Fountain. But where do all the coins thrown by the visitors go?
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A good initiative
One should note that nearly a million euros are thrown into the fountain each year, enough to make any person who would bother to pick up the coins very rich! However, all this money is not wasted and is used for the good cause. A Roman Catholic charity, Caritas, is in charge of collecting the coins each morning to redistribute the money to the poor. They even opened a supermarket with low-priced products in 2008 to help those in need.
A very old monument
The monument was commissioned in 1732 by Pope Clement XII. A countless number of coins have been collected for several decades in the Trevi fountain. So if you go through Rome during your next vacation, do not hesitate to take your turn and throw a small coin in the water. You already know that it will be very useful.
