Rome city authorities to claim tourists' coins from Caritas.

Rome's city administration has pushed through its contentious plan to claim the coins tossed by tourists into the waters of the Trevi Fountain - estimated at up to €1.5 million a year - breaking a long-running agreement with Catholic charity Caritas.

The move will see the city take control of the coins from 1 April 2019, directing the funds into municipal "assistance and solidarity projects."

The plan was first mooted in late 2017 by the cash-strapped city council, led by mayor Virginia Raggi of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle, but the proposal was delayed for a year following widespread criticism.

Caritas, which was founded in Rome in 1971, relies on the swept-up change to provide help to the city's homeless people and families in financial difficulty. The tradition was begun in 2001 by centre-left mayor Walter Veltroni, according to Vatican News, and was continued by subsequent city administrations, until now.

According to tradition, tourists who throw coins into the waters of the Baroque monument - with right hand over left shoulder with eyes closed - are guaranteed to return to the Eternal City.