TOSS a coin into the Trevi Fountain and it is said you will certainly return to Rome.

After the greeting supporters of Middlesbrough Football Club received in the Italian capital, it is fair to assume it is the last place they would deposit their euros.

Tuesday night's ambush by more than 30 of AS Roma's Italian Ultras, the name given to a fascist and fanatical group of so-called supporters, has left those on Teesside with a discoloured picture of the beautiful and historic city.

Yesterday, the morning after the violence, Middlesbrough fans mingled with locals and tourists at the Trevi Fountain, discussing events of the night before just as much as the astonishing 18th Century monument.

Three Italian police Jeeps perched towards the back of the square peered down and monitored the thousands as they flocked to see one of the world's most attractive sights.

Anyone climbing too boisterously on it faced a jail sentence of anything up to two years. But there was none of that behaviour, just respect for the fountain.

If only the same respect could have been shown by the Ultras this week after an incident that has completely overshadowed Boro's monumental trip to Italy.

"I have come to Rome to watch the football," said Gary Simmons, a 45-year-old from Stockton who arrived in the city yesterday morning with his 11-year-old son Thomas.

"But you can't help but be wary of what is around the corner. I would normally have just taken Thomas everywhere in Rome but we're not moving from the main drags. What's the point?

"I have spoken to people who were around Tuesday's trouble and they are clearly still shaken by the whole ordeal.

"We have arrived in Rome to see the sun shining and we're having to keep one eye on our backs.

"It's not great, but you have to just get on."

The father looking out for his son story is one that many will be telling over the next few weeks, most probably years.

Many Middlesbrough-supporting families were in the Drunken Ship pub when chairs and flares were thrown, and axes, knives and sticks were used to inflict pain on the Teessiders drinking there.

The location of the watering hole, the Campo de Fiori, is a main square that has a bloody past. It was the site of public executions during the 17th Century and that very nearly returned on March 14, 2006.

Yesterday - ironically the day of the Ides of March, when Julius Caesar was stabbed in 44BC at the entrance to Rome's Curia Pompeii - the square had become the centrepiece for television crews and journalists, waiting to see a repeat.

Instead, a bustling fruit and vegetable market was the attraction; not a policeman in sight.

"The pubs were all shut, the market was on and it was back to normal, everyday life for them," said Brian Allan, 40, from Hartlepool.

Unfortunately for Mr Allan, along with more than 3,000 other Middlesbrough supporters, everyday life will not arrive until today, when they return home to the North-East, hoping fears of a repeat of the violence were not realised last night.

Thirteen English fans were known to have suffered injuries after Tuesday night, but there could well have been a lot more.

One of those, wearing a red shirt and with a bandage on his right arm, chose to walk around the courtyard of the sovereign State of the Vatican City in the hope of gaining a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI.

Perhaps the Roman Ultras responsible for the organised ambush also had a walk up to St Peter's Basilica to repent their sins... although it is very much doubted.