It’s often said that the Trevi Fountain looks like a stage set. Indeed, the 250 year-old fountain has provided a backdrop to many notable performances. Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn dallied around it in Roman Holiday. And a very well-endowed Anita Ekberg was drenched here by Fellini in the classic film La Dolce Vita.
Today, however, some very young starlets are dominating the Trevi stage. I sat there recently while happily munching a big cone from Il Gelato di San Crispino. While working my way through a melon sorbet, I couldn’t help but smile at the teenage girls who were posing on the rocks below.
Photo by Andy Hay
Instead of reflecting on the Baroque architecture, or fishing in my bag to find three coins (tossing them into the water brings marriage or divorce, according to the legend), I was busy watching a long series of girls flip their hair, arrange their legs, and smile for the souvenir shot.
"I don’t think we can claim to have visited Rome without this sort of evidence,” I said. My friend - perhaps fortunately - was less enthusiastic about the idea of watching a grown woman trying to crash the pose party below.
"No matter,” I said, finishing the last of my gelato. “I think it must be time to eat again…”
Il Gelato di San Crispino, Via della Panetteria 42, Rome