ROME (AP) — For years, Rome seemed to have only a high season for tourism given the Italian capital's eternal appeal with foreign visitors.
Tourists crowded around the monumental Trevi Fountain from January through December, jostling for a glimpse of the must-see landmark in a throng several deep. Travelers who managed to get close enough tossed a coin into the water, an act that, according to local legend, guaranteed a return trip to the city.
If the coin-toss ritual works and the crowds could come back to Rome now, they'd see places they never saw before — or at least not in the same way they saw before. The coronavirus outbreak that has made Italy second to China in confirmed cases has emptied landmarks of tourists — and Romans.
Photographs taken before and after the emergence
