A Romanian who used rods fitted with powerful magnets to 'fish' change out of the capital's famed Trevi Fountain was acquitted of theft by a Rome court Friday.
Perched on the side of the fountain, the 32-year-old Romanian managed to reel in coins amounting to around 10 euros in January before he was nabbed by the policemen on duty in the square.
The Romanian told the court he had read in a Rome daily that the money in the fountain is legally considered 'res nullius', or abandoned property that subsequently belongs to the first taker.
The judge agreed and acquitted him of theft, but nevertheless ordered that the 10 euros should be returned to the city council.
Under city bylaws, touching or entering the waters is banned, but the fountain has long been a magnet for thieves.
Every day, hundreds of tourists stand on the steps around the fountain and, with their back turned to its waters, toss coins over their shoulders into the shallow pool in a tradition said to ensure their return to Rome.
Public officials estimate that at least 1,200 euros a day in loose change is lobbed into the fountain.
The money is donated to Caritas, a Catholic charity, to help fund activities for the city poor.
The Trevi's most famous coin thief was 'D'Artagnan', a 50-year-old Roman who raided the fountain for more than 30 years before the law cracked down on him in 2002 and banned him from the square.
The musketeer, whose nickname derived from his long, sword-like magnet, gained worldwide news coverage with his tricks including a front-page slot on the New York Times.
In one week at the height of the tourist season, he was reported to have scooped out an impressive 22 kilos of coins from the fountain in just fifteen minutes.
The monument has also lured imitators of screen beauty Anita Ekberg, who made a legendary dip into its waters in the 1959 Federico Fellini movie La Dolce Vita.
Supermodel Claudia Schiffer repeated the scene in a 1995 advert for Valentino.
More startling was the plunge made by a buxom Milanese office worker who stripped off completely in April 2007 for a swim in the fountain.
When the 40-year-old woman emerged from the waters, she made no haste to put her clothes back on and instead lounged on the surrounding white marble, soaking up the sun for some 15 minutes before police asked her to dress and led her away.
Later the same year, a youth risked his life by diving from the highest part of the Baroque monument headlong into its shallow waters.
Delighted tourists cheered him on as he repeated the death-defying stunt before being ordered out by police.
The Trevi Fountain, designed to replace an older fountain dating back to the 1450s, was created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona in the 17th-century, but was not completed until a century later, around 1751 when Nicola Salvi was commissioned to finish the work.
