Tourists in Verona face £400 fines for sticking love notes beneath Juliet's balcony
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Verona is clamping down on star-crossed tourists who visit Juliet's balcony and leave love notes in the courtyard by handing out fines of up to 500 euros to anyone caught sticking chewing gum and Post-it notes on the walls.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the romantic World Heritage-listed city's most popular attraction has been defaced as a result of tattered scraps of paper and hardened blobs of gum causing the unsightly mess.
The new decree, being drawn up by Verona city council, will prohibit chewing gum and adhesive Post-it notes from being stuck on the walls. The consumption of food and drink in the courtyard of the famous house will also be banned.
Tourists will no longer be allowed to write graffiti on the walls of the courtyards and the tunnel leading to it, but there will be specially-provided removable panels for them to write messages.
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Mayor of Verona, Flavio Tosi, told the Daily Telegraph: 'We've decided to enact a law that will sanction anyone who indulges in this kind of behaviour.
'A sign will be put up telling tourists where they are allowed to post their messages - that is, on the removable panels that we have provided.'
Verona earns a fortune from Shakespeare's legend of Romeo and Juliet, despite the fact that there is little evidence that the couple existed.
Historians say there is almost nothing linking the house to Shakespeare's tragic love story, apart from the house probably once being the home of the Cappello family, who may have been the model for the Capulets in the story.
World's most romantic spots
- The Meeting Place, St Pancras Station<p> If you're looking for the perfect place to meet your date in London, it's at the Meeting Place at St Pancras Station. The beautifully restored station is often compared to New York's romantic Grand Central Station and is home to the nine-metre sculpture The Meeting Place, which sits at the heart of the station showing two lovers locked in an embrace. Looking for a place to go once you've met at the sculpture? Just catch a train and see where it takes you!</p>
- Tomb of Abelard and Heloise, Paris<p> A cemetery probably isn't the first place you'd think of wooing someone, but the Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris is definitely worth a visit on a romantic date. It's where the tomb of 12th-century lovers Abelard and Heloise lies. The relationship between philosopher Abelard and his student Heloise scandalised the local community and when Heloise fell pregnant they were soon separated. It was only after they died that they were reunited with their remains resting eternally together in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.<strong> </strong><strong>Image:</strong> Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/nsheschong/" target="_blank">Frustrated Writer</a></p>
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