Police had to break up a brawl as tourists fought over the ideal spot to take a selfie at the Trevi fountain in Rome.

A young Dutch woman and a 44-year-old American woman came to blows by the edge of the 18th-century baroque fountain as they vied for the same vantage point and then their families waded in.

Many of the 7.3 million annual visitors to Rome battle for a glimpse of the Trevi fountain, the location for the famous scene in Federico Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita in which the Swedish actress Anita Ekberg glided through the pool.

French football fans leapt into the fountain last month to celebrate their team’s victory in the World Cup, an episode described as shameful by Rome’s