April 11, 2015

"J" is for Juliet

You’re probably familiar with William Shakespeare’s story of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. The play is set in the northern Italian city of Verona and, though the characters are fictional, the city has happily adopted this tragic couple. Visitors now flock to a bronze statue of Juliet in the tiny courtyard of Casa di Giulietta and gaze up at her balcony as Romeo himself would have done.



Statue of Juliet, Verona



Juliet's Balcony


Romantics of all ages pose for photos with Juliet as they rub her right breast for good luck. This custom has become so popular that last year the statue was moved to a museum because of excessive wear and replaced by a replica. The original statue was found stuffed with old love letters. Ah, amore!

But Casa di Giulietta is not only for the lovelorn. Happy couples leave behind a love lock penned with their names and others scrawl romantic graffiti on a wall. There’s a convenient gift shop on-site to supply the padlocks and pens.


Love Locks


Graffiti Wall at Casa di Giulietta


This popular tourist site inspired one of my recommended films for armchair travellers, the 2010 romantic comedy Letters to Juliet starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave. Here’s a link to the movie trailer.

Next:  "K" is for Krupp

4 comments:

  1. We thought about stopping there, but didn't as it was several hours out of the way. Looking at your photos I think we made the wrong choice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We only stopped for a short time and it was very hot but I'm glad I got to see Juliet. If only I could have seen more of the city.

      Delete
  2. No such thing as bad publicity I guess, no wonder Verona has adopted the happy couple as their own, the visitors that must bring to the city.
    Great pix as always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. There was quite a crowd there the day we visited.

      Delete

All comments are moderated.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.