A 40-year-old woman from Milan has become an international celebrity after being caught on camera skinny-dipping in Rome's Trevi fountain.

Images of the naked tourist, identified only by her first name Roberta, were published by Italy's leading newspapers on Monday.

A brief video of her swimming and sunbathing in the city's landmark was broadcast on Italian television late on Sunday and was now circulating on the internet.

Quoted by daily Corriere della Sera, Roberta said she had decided to strip and dive into the fountain's shallow waters because she was feeling hot amid unusually high temperatures of 29 degrees celsius.

"The water belongs to everyone and it was hot. What's wrong (with taking a dip)," she was quoted as saying.

When a policeman came to apprehend her and lead her to a police station on charges of indecent exposure, she was greeted by rapturous applause from hundreds of onlookers, many of whom were equipped with cameras.

The 17th century fountain was made famous by Anita Ekberg in Federico Fellini's masterpiece La Dolce Vita.

The scene in which the Swedish model is shown frolicking in the fountain is one of the most celebrated in the history of cinema.