jot-23
30.07.02, 20:13
ROME –– For years, tourists have been flipping coins into Rome's glorious
Trevi Fountain and making a wish. For years, men have waited until dawn and
scooped the wet change into their pockets.
But their late-night collections ended Monday morning, when a team of police
officers equipped with brooms, shovels and buckets barred three men from
picking up the haul, after a newspaper article showed that they were raking
in thousands of dollars a week.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported Saturday that the group gathered
up to $586 each day. They rested on Mondays, when the Catholic charity
collected.
"And now, what will we do?" another coin fisher, Francesco Macconi, said to
Corriere della Sera. "We're unemployed and we have families to care for."
Cercelletta, who has been picking up coins for 20 years, threatened to go
back to the fountain Wednesday morning to harm himself in protest.
"Tomorrow morning I'm going back to the fountain, to slit my wrists," the 50-
year-old said, speaking from his cell phone.