Of course I visited Juliet's house in Verona
After countless trips Home to Italy I finally had an opportunity to visit Verona.
It was winter so I did not attend the famous opera in the amphitheater but I walked as much of the city in 2 days as possible
The city is not difficult to navigate (a map would help) and on the second day I found the main pedestrian street that went from a large out door market to the library (I thought I might find wifi here). Off to the left was a small entry that took me to what might be the most visited house in town.
We all know about the locks of love found on bridges throughout Italy. The idea is taken to the next level at Juliet's home. There is an entire store selling all size locks and other memorabilia. Notice the locks come in 3 sizes: sm, med, lg..............if you 'love' only buys a small lock does that mean he does not love you a lot?
There is a special metal grid that allows visitors to install their locks..............at some point them must cut the old locks off..............call the metal man.
But you can ALSO leave you love message on you used gum........I have not seen this before. It was very unusual.
If you don't chew gum then you can leave Juliet a letter in a private mail box. I would love to read those messages.
The court yard is small and there were two 'guards' or part of the police force to keep everyone from defacing the walls. They designated the two walls at the alley entrance for messages. I could read a few of these but next time I shall try to translate more of them.
I had to wait over 5 minutes to take a photo of the house without someone on the balcony. For a fee you can enter the house and stand on the balcony........mostly young girls were taking part in this love activity
On my way back to the center of the city I passed one of the many cafes that were packed on this Sunday. I had to smile at the foursome having lunch. I asked the owner 'what is lui (he) having"?
The girlfriend did not think I was funny.............
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| And what will you have for lunch? |
I have to confess I've never been able to understand the attraction of a small stone house with a balcony in the middle of Verona - while the building itself may be real enough the person(s) living there were just a figment of Shakespeare's imagination. I suppose some forward-thinking person years ago thought it would make a good tourist attraction but I can't believe that many people think the whole thing was actually real. Sorry if I've shattered any illusions but I don't believe in fairy stories.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally I've only just recently watched a film on tv - 'Letters To Juliet' - about a young woman who finds a 50-year old letter in the courtyard wall and answers it, resulting in the English writer going to Italy to track down her lost love. A bit of romantic fluff for anyone who likes that sort of thing, but it features one of the courtyard walls covered in letters written on pieces of paper and post-it notes which were removed each day and taken away to be answered - going off your photo of the mail box I would assume that feature of the wall was done just for the film rather than being actual reality, although I know 'Juliet's secretaries' do exist. I wouldn't like to be the one to remove the gum though! :(
I read about that movie but did not see it....love stories are too much fiction for me.
DeleteIn December there were letters to babbo (santa) attached to a large xmas tree in the train station in Rome....some very interesting comments and requests
thanks for reading