Hi all- I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking
coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he got
as much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??

D

Destiny schrieb:
    > Hi all- I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking
    > coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he
    > got as much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??
    > D

It was in the news here - the city authorities have decided to declare the coins
to be their property, and they now collect the coins themselves themselves daily.
Up till now, one man had been doing it for himself, presumably the one who has
been arrested.


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Destiny <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking coins from
    > the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he got as much
    > as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??

Gotta wonder how someone's homeless on 12K a month.

miguel
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Miguel Cruz <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Gotta wonder how someone's homeless on 12K a month.

Perhaps not. Drug addicts can spend as much as that, depending on circumstances.

David

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In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Miguel
Cruz) wrote:

    > Destiny <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking coins
    > > from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he got as
    > > much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??
    > Gotta wonder how someone's homeless on 12K a month.

ya gotta wonder where they came up with that estimate of how much he was getting

Old news really. It was in all the Italian papers last month. It just made it to the
papers in the US and Canada? The man is not homeless; he has been collecting the
coins for 30 years I think they said. The coins belong to no one according to some
judge or other therefore he could not be arrested for stealing. He only collected
them Monday to Friday. On the weekend, the city of Rome collected the coins and they
were then given over to charity. The man in question said he could not find a job
and that he would not stop unless someone got him a job. I don't know what happened
after that.



"Destiny" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Hi all- I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking
    > coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he
    > got as much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??
    > D

The New York Times ran the story today (prominently),


"ntmarzolino" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Old news really. It was in all the Italian papers last month. It just made it to
    > the papers in the US and Canada? The man is not homeless; he has
been
    > collecting the coins for 30 years I think they said. The coins belong to
no
    > one according to some judge or other therefore he could not be arrested
for
    > stealing. He only collected them Monday to Friday. On the weekend, the
city
    > of Rome collected the coins and they were then given over to charity. The man in
    > question said he could not find a job and that he would not stop unless someone got
    > him a job. I don't know what happened after that.
    > "Destiny" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > > Hi all- I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking
    > > coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he
    > > got as much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??
    > >
    > > D
    > >

On Wed, 07 Aug 2002, "ntmarzolino" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Old news really. It was in all the Italian papers last month. It just made it to
    > the papers in the US and Canada?

I saw it in a newspaper here in Canada about two weeks ago.

--
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Yes, the New York Times is probably looking for stories, it is August after all.
"Yves Bellefeuille" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > On Wed, 07 Aug 2002, "ntmarzolino" <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > Old news really. It was in all the Italian papers last month. It just made it to
    > > the papers in the US and Canada?
    > I saw it in a newspaper here in Canada about two weeks ago.
    > --
    > Yves Bellefeuille <[email protected]>, Ottawa, Canada Francais / English / Esperanto
    > Esperanto FAQ: http://www.esperanto.n-
    > et/veb/faq.html     Rec.travel.europe FAQ: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/travel/europe/faq

Destiny wrote:
    > Hi all- I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking
    > coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he
    > got as much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??

Surely he couldn't have been the first person to get the idea? (Even here in the
U.S., people seem impelled to throw money into fountains, and I gather it's an
established tradition, for the fountains of Rome.)

Miguel Cruz wrote:
    > Destiny <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking coins
    > > from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he got as
    > > much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??
    > Gotta wonder how someone's homeless on 12K a month.

Maybe he has a big "habit"? A great many of the homeless here have drug and/or
alcohol problems.

ntmarzolino wrote:
    > Yes, the New York Times is probably looking for stories, it is August after all.

Used to be know as the "silly season" to newspaper staffers
- that's when you'd get most of the UFO sightings, etc.

"Evelyn Vogt Gamble (Divamanque)" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Surely he couldn't have been the first person to get the idea? (Even here in the
    > U.S., people seem impelled to throw money into fountains, and I gather it's an
    > established tradition, for the fountains of Rome.)

Well, the tradition at the Fontana di Trevi started via an old American movie,
"Three Coins in the Fountain". The story is if you turn your back to the fountain,
hold a coin in your right hand and throw it into the fountain over your left
shoulder, then you will come back to Rome, if you do this with three coins,
according to the movie, you will find your true love in Rome, I don't know what
happens if you only use two coins.

ntmarzolino schrieb:
    > Old news really. It was in all the Italian papers last month. It just made it to
    > the papers in the US and Canada? The man is not homeless; he has been collecting
    > the coins for 30 years I think they said. The coins belong to no one according to
    > some judge or other therefore he could not be arrested for stealing. He only
    > collected them Monday to Friday. On the weekend, the city of Rome collected the
    > coins and they were then given over to charity. The man in question said he could
    > not find a job and that he would not stop unless someone got him a job. I don't
    > know what happened after that.

Saw an interview with the guy (actually I think he wasn't the only one doing it) on
TV. The police did not cite him for taking the money, which is not illegal, but for
being inside the fountain in fishing boots, which apparently is. Quote: 'what did
they think I'd be using, fins?'. Actually, even with bare feet nobody's allowed in
there. Nobody told Anita E., apparently.

The city now collects the coins daily instead of just once per week. Guess he does
need a new job now.

Mika

"Evelyn Vogt Gamble (Divamanque)" <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:

    > Destiny wrote:
    >> Hi all- I just read something about a homeless man that was arrested for taking
    >> coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They estimated that in the busy season he
    >> got as much as 12,000 euro a month. Anyone else heard about this??
    > Surely he couldn't have been the first person to get the idea?

I thought the city has done it all the time anyway. It surely is tempting for
ordinary people, but I guess embarassment prevents most. Imagine, you sit on the edge
of the fountain, put off your shoes and socks, and then walk about the fountain
grabbing for money, watched by several hundred tourists? I wouldn't do that.

    > (Even here in the U.S., people seem impelled to throw money into fountains, and I
    > gather it's an established tradition, for the fountains of Rome.)

Wasn't it inspired by that movie "Three coins in the fountain"?

Regards

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