Rome is under construction ahead of next year's holy event.

Tourists eager to make a wish in Rome’s Trevi Fountain are being forced to toss coins over a plastic barrier into a small makeshift pool while the attraction is being drained for maintenance.

The rectangular box, unadorned and showing its plywood finish, has elicited mixed reactions.

“I think it is a very sweet gesture that people can still do that," said Marianna Strekstadt, visiting from the Netherlands on Friday. Others, like Daniela Carbone, found the substitute pool “ugly”. Yet, she gave her kids some coins to throw in anyway. “We have to please the children," she said.