The Trevi Fountain scene with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable scenes in cinematographic history.

The scene was shot in early spring when nights were still cold. Anita Ekberg had to stand in the cold water in her dress for hours, but never complained. Unlike Mastoianni who was freezing and asked for a wetsuit to put under his clothes. Rumor has it that he drank an entire bottle of vodka trying to warm himself up, and was completely drunk by the end of the shooting.  

Fellini also had complaints. In his opinion, the water in the fountain looked too dirty. Luckily, there was a representative of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) present at the shooting who managed to supply the team with the airline's sea dye marker. These markers contain a fluorescent green dye that spreads over the surface of the water in case of emergency landing at sea to increase visibility for a rescue pilot. The filming team used it to color the water in the fountain.

When Marcello Mastroianni died in 1996, the fountain was turned off and draped in black in tribute. When Anita Ekberg died in 2015, the Rome authorities put a huge canvas image of her looking down on the piazza, with the words “Ciao Anita”.