ROME-As if the Trevi Fountain’s current restoration works were not bad enough, tourists and Romans alike now have to jostle their way past persistent and ever-increasing street vendors in order to get a glimpse of one of the Eternal City’s best known attractions.

 Amidst a sea of hats, postcards, fridge magnetics, souvenirs and the like, tourists have complained that it is almost impossible to see Nicola Salvi’s Baroque Masterpiece, let alone take a photo of it.

 Despite already offering only a very limited view, thanks to the glass panels erected all the way around the Trevi Fountain, the Federation of Tourist Agencies lashed out saying, “The City needs to stop this. More control measures need to be put in place to stop this historic and artistic gem being covered up.”

 The restoration work began little over a month ago, with scaffolding erected and the water supply being cut off. The cleaning and restoration of the fountain is a huge disappointment for the abundance of tourists excited to see Rome and visit the many treasures it boasts, over the Summer holidays.

 The use of transparent panels was supposed to allow tourists to continue to view the fountain even during the restoration period, according to officials, yet it is nevertheless severely disappointing to see this masterpiece cooped up inside a glass cage.

 Illegal street vendors exacerbate this problem with stalls all along the perimeter, meaning that a complete view of the Trevi Fountain is, at least for the moment, a thing of the past, with only small and sporadic gaps from which to observe the fountain.

 The Organisation of Travel Agents explains how “over the last ten years the number of complaints from tourists being hassled by street vendors has increased dramatically.” To make matters worse, tourists are now returning home, haunted by plastic handbags, multi-coloured scarfs and cheap sunglasses.