Description: Romeo and Juliet may have been fictional, but at Juliet's house you can swoon beneath what popular myth says was her balcony, or if in need of a new lover, approach a bronze statue of Juliet and rub her right breast for good luck. This is a peculiar tradition which no-one can seem to explain.
The house is at Via Capelli, just off the Piazza delle Erbe. It is supposedly the location of the famous balcony love scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The house is a major destination for tourist pilgrimage and the tiny courtyard is usually packed with people photographing each other on the famous balcony.
The house actually has no connection with Shakespeare's fictional characters. Although the house is old, the balcony was added in 1936 and it was declared to be Juliet's house to attract tourists. Local officials, determined to keep the myth alive, designated it to be the residence of the Capulets.
It costs 4 Euros to visit. The house contains a sparse collection of Renaissance frescoes rescued from other demolished palaces, as well as the original bed from Zeffirelli's 1968 movie Romeo and Juliet. There is not a lot else!
The balcony overlooks a tiny courtyard with the bronze statue of Juliet.
There is an unbelievable amount of grafitti on the walls in the alleyway leading to the courtyard and beyond. There is a tradition, apparently of writing love messages to Juliet. Some of it looked to me to be just random grafitti and it is extremely messy looking.
We went to Juliet's houe at 10:30am - it was blissfully uncrowded. There was no-one else on the balcony except us and only about half a dozen other people inside the house. The courtyard was also almost empty. I would recommend getting here earlyish to beat the hoards of tourists that descend in the afternoon.
It is a "must do" experience to stand on Juliet's balcony, but if you go to the next level of the house, there is a larger balcony which gives a lovely view of the countryside around Verona.
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