Romeo & Juliet, Verona

It's a wonderful place that transmitted its ancient emotions in a special way. It seems to live there the atmosphere and the passion of Romeo & Juliet. Its perhaps one of the most romantic places in the world. This place it's also a part of the setting of one of the most important Shakespeare' s play.
Another interesting and curious thing to do here is to engrave your name on the Lovers' Terrace to be part forever of Verona history. It's particularly recommended for lovers and for others events like Valentine' s day.

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Okay, so Juliet might have been a fictional character, but that didn't stop her from having a house and a balcony. Supposedly this house really did belong to a 14th century Veronese family which just might have been one of the families Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1594.

All sorts of lovely people from all over the world come here to take photos of Juliet's balcony with their digital cameras.

Update 2011: You can now hear Juliet singing a few bars of Gounod’s opera from this very balcony in the Arena’s flash mob video on their website and on YouTube.

Second photo: More young people taking photos in all directions.

Third photo: More tourists in the courtyard. There is a small museum in Juliet's house, but young couples usually save half the price of admission because just the girl goes in so she can stand on the balcony while her boyfriend takes a picture of her from down in the courtyard.

Fourth photo: Looking down at the courtyard. The red chairs on the terrace are for spectators who come to see an abridged version of – you guessed it – Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Fifth photo: View from one of the upper windows of Juliet's house. That's Castel San Pietro in the background.

The place is must when you visit Verona, but you might be disapointed cause the place is full of persons, mostly giggling young girls, and the love notes have been stuck by chewing gum into walls. Looks disgusting! And the statue in the garden. Stories tell that touching the girls breast brings the love, but the touch should be genttle, not push like the most one are doing.

But look up, forget the walls and rogues, just think about love, the youngs and future!

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Romeo, Romeo, where forth art thou Romeo?

Probably third in line behind the American and French guys getting their picture taken rubbing the right breast of Juliet's statue. It is suppose to bring you luck and since she's bronze, she won't slap you.

The legendary lovers famed balcony has become a must see stop for tourists visiting Verona. It doesn't matter if they were fictional characters and the balcony was built in the 1930's to provide photo seeking tourists with a photo op, it's fun to dream and imagine Juliet peering out from the balcony waiting for her lover to appear.

Today, you can stop in the courtyard and see the statue, leave a love note and just give your own Juliet a little hug and kiss as the lovers would have done.

Juliet's house houses a small museum and temporary art exhibitions. All the frescoes, paintings, and ceramics on display are genuine antiques from the 16th and 17th century, however, none of them have ever belonged to the Capulets.

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Unlike Juliet's house, the house which is said to have been that of her Romeo has not yet been turned into a tourist attraction. In fact, it's a nice but fairly non-descript house sitting a few steps away from Piazza dei Signori, on Via Arche Scaligere, in the same neighborhood as Juliet's house. The only way you can recognize it is thanks to a plaque on the wall that includes some lines from Shakespeare's play, starting with "O, where is Romeo?". The house is believed to have once belonged to the Montecchi family, which apparently was similar enough to make a connection with Shakespeare's Montagues. I must admit that I was suprised to see how little attention was being paid to Romeo's house, especially with all the hype surrounding the Casa di Giulietta. I wouldn't be surprised if the situation were to change eventually, seems like such a good opportunity to keep the legend alive!

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Here's a site that's as strange as it is unique. The monastery of San Francesco al Corso is first and foremost a small museum (Museo degli Affreschi) that houses different religious paintings, frescoes and sculptures. However, most visitors just breeze through the museum in order to see the crypt that contains Juliet's tomb. Just like it was the case with Juliet's house, rumours somehow started floating around that the church of San Francesco al Corso was where Romeo and Juliet had gotten married, and that the two lovers came to their untimely end shortly after their wedding day in the monastery's crypt. It's common knowledge that the tomb described as Juliet's only dates back to 1937 and that it was most probably added after the success of the 1936 "Romeo and Juliet" movie starring Leslie Howard as Romeo, Norma Shearer as Juliet, and John Barrymore as Mercutio. But that doesn't stop people from all around the world from paying their respect to Giulietta, or lovers from getting married at the church of San Francesco al Corso (there was effectively a wedding going on when we were there).

Well... it's included in the Verona Card, so why not?!

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About a century before William Shakespeare wrote the play "Romeo and Juliet", there already was a story going around Italy about two young lovers coming to a tragic end. Luigi da Porto was the first author to set the story in Verona and to name its main characters Romeo and Giulietta. The building that stands at No. 23 Via Cappello dates back to the 12th century and once belonged to the Capello family, which people began associating with the name Capuleti, and thus a new legend was born. "Juliet's house" is now one of the most visited sites in all of Verona. People come to profess their love on Juliet's wall by leaving letters, post-its or graffitis. In the lovely inner courtyard, it's also possible to see Juliet's balcony and a bronze statue of Juliet - if you're wondering why her right breast is so shiny, it's because people believe that touching it will make you lucky in love.

Most people don't bother going inside the house, but as it was included in the Verona Card I went in to take a look. There are some Romeo & Juliet movie props on display, along with different editions of Shakespeare's play. There are computers available if you want to send an e-mail to Juliet (who knew she'd gotten so modern!), and of course you can get your picture taken on Juliet's balcony. It also gives you a nice idea of what a medieval house in Verona looks like from the inside.

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After encountering amazing numbers of tourists at Juliet's House, I expected there would also be crowds at her tomb -- or at least four or five lovelorn teen-age girls of various nationalities gazing photogenically at the tomb and barely holding back their tears.

But no, I had the place to myself when I was there, which I guess just goes to show that most tourists are more selective about their sightseeing than I am.




Second photo:
A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.

Third photo:
Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

Fourth photo: No, this is not Juliet, just a nude statue of somebody else that is on display in the small museum upstairs from her tomb.

Fifth photo: The site of Juliet's tomb was used by the ancient Romans for rubbish disposal, so numerous amphora (jugs) have been found there. Evidently these were thrown away because they got rancid after oil had been stored in them for a long time.