Fontana di Trevi: The City Hall and the Church of Rome compete for millions of coins thrown by tourists | World

Each year about 1.5 million euros in coins played by tourists are removed from the waters of the historic monument.

Traditionally, the money is donated to a Catholic charity to help the homeless.

The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, now wants the money to be invested in the precarious infrastructure of the city.

Caritas – a network of humanitarian organizations in the Catholic Church – says, in turn, that the loss of income will go to the poor.

"We have not foreseen this result," said the father of Benitas Ambarus, director of Caritas, to Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

"I still hope that it is not definitive."

The newspaper published a strong article on the theme in the Saturday edition, titled "The Money of the Poorest."

The change, which was to take place in April, was approved by the councilors.

However, many Italians turned to social networks to ask the authorities to reconsider their decision, reported the Ansa news agency.

In 2016, Raggi badumed the presidency of the mayor of Rome, where he represented the anti-system party System 5 Estrellas (M5S), which governs the country in coalition with La Liga (far right).

His popularity fell because he was unable to solve the problems of the indebted city.

In October, thousands of protesters gathered in front of City Hall to denounce Raggi's refusal to solve problems such as uncollected garbage and bumpy roads.

The Trevi Fountain, which is almost 300 years old, is visited every year by millions of tourists. Most reject coins at the monument and make a request.

The tradition of playing money in the fountain became famous after the movie The Fountain of Dreams (1954), whose soundtrack tells the song Three Coins of the Fountain performed by Frank Sinatra.