Casa Di Giulietta or House of Juliet
Verona, 1 August 2014
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."
--Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet" (2.2.45-6)-William Shakespeare
I read Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare when I was a student at the Udayana University, Denpasar Bali as one of the required readings assigned by our professor on the subject of Ancient English Literature. It was a very hard reading but I got the point that how tragic their love story was.
The story goes as follow:
"Romeo and Juliet met one night at a masked ball and fell desperately in love, but she was a Capulet and he was a Montague, and the tow families were enemies. The lovers met in secret for some time, Juliet aided by her maid, Romeo by his friar. One day, however, Romeo was walking through the street of Verona together with his friend Mercutio, when he was came across one of the Capulets, a cousin of Juliet, who insisted on fighting. Romeo, tried to refuse, but in that period, not accepting a challenge was a sign of cowardice, so his friend Mercutio accepted he duel, on Romeo's behalf, to have his honor, paying with his life. At this point Romeo, enraged, killed the Capulet and was condemned to exile. Desperate, he recounted everything his beloved Juliet, and the two decided to get married immediately in secret. The friar, their friend, married them. That night Romeo entered the Capulets' courtyard, climbed up the balcony and spent the night with Juliet. In the morning, he had to leave for exile in Mantua. After a while, Juliet's parents decided she to marry somebody else. Juliet tried to refuse or to postpone the marriage, but in that period it was the parents' decision and that was that. She went to the friar to ask for advice and he gave her a herbal infusion to make her seem dead for 48 hours. In the meantime he was to go to Romeo, who was to come back to rescue her, so that they could elope...but the friar did not reach Romeo. Having arrived at the gate of Mantua, he found them closed; there had been cases of plague in the Padana plain, and the people in Mantua were afraid of the illness, so nobody was allowed to enter the city. Romeo had heard his beloved Juliet was dead and so, desperate, he got on his horse, rode to Verona, went to Capulets' graves...there she really was, apparently dead...Romeo gave her a last kiss and killed himself. When Juliet awoke, she found Romeo dead beside her, and she too decided she didn't want to live without him: she took his knife and killed herself. Juliet was fourteen and Romeo was sixteen, and the story is a true story, at least in its main lines" (Maria Pia Girolani and Michael Lee).
To this present day, there are many people visiting the house of Juliet for various purposes. Some lovers go there in order that they will gain happy eternal love. Some people just go there because they are curious about the place. I went there because my daughter actually directed a play of Romeo and Juliet for her theater assignment. Therefore, she was very excited to visit the House of Juliet in Verona. It was a hot sunny day with a heavy backpack we walked from the Arena to the house of Juliet. It was not far from the Arena.
When we got to the house of Juliet, there have been many people inside the compound, some of them were busy writing their messages on the walls in both side of the entrance gate. Some of the visitors were busy taking pictures both in the balcony and with the bronze statue of Juliet. It was very crowded, therefore, Kadek and I had to take turn to get closer to the statue of Juliet.
The following are some of the pictures of the graffiti made by visitors.
I hope that those who made a wish or wishes there will gain an happy eternal love. My own graffiti on the wall was "Love is beautiful, therefore the world should be full of Love".
Verona, 1 August 2014
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."
--Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet" (2.2.45-6)-William Shakespeare
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Romeo and Juliet (1968) |
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| The sign in front of Juliet's house |
I read Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare when I was a student at the Udayana University, Denpasar Bali as one of the required readings assigned by our professor on the subject of Ancient English Literature. It was a very hard reading but I got the point that how tragic their love story was.
The story goes as follow:
"Romeo and Juliet met one night at a masked ball and fell desperately in love, but she was a Capulet and he was a Montague, and the tow families were enemies. The lovers met in secret for some time, Juliet aided by her maid, Romeo by his friar. One day, however, Romeo was walking through the street of Verona together with his friend Mercutio, when he was came across one of the Capulets, a cousin of Juliet, who insisted on fighting. Romeo, tried to refuse, but in that period, not accepting a challenge was a sign of cowardice, so his friend Mercutio accepted he duel, on Romeo's behalf, to have his honor, paying with his life. At this point Romeo, enraged, killed the Capulet and was condemned to exile. Desperate, he recounted everything his beloved Juliet, and the two decided to get married immediately in secret. The friar, their friend, married them. That night Romeo entered the Capulets' courtyard, climbed up the balcony and spent the night with Juliet. In the morning, he had to leave for exile in Mantua. After a while, Juliet's parents decided she to marry somebody else. Juliet tried to refuse or to postpone the marriage, but in that period it was the parents' decision and that was that. She went to the friar to ask for advice and he gave her a herbal infusion to make her seem dead for 48 hours. In the meantime he was to go to Romeo, who was to come back to rescue her, so that they could elope...but the friar did not reach Romeo. Having arrived at the gate of Mantua, he found them closed; there had been cases of plague in the Padana plain, and the people in Mantua were afraid of the illness, so nobody was allowed to enter the city. Romeo had heard his beloved Juliet was dead and so, desperate, he got on his horse, rode to Verona, went to Capulets' graves...there she really was, apparently dead...Romeo gave her a last kiss and killed himself. When Juliet awoke, she found Romeo dead beside her, and she too decided she didn't want to live without him: she took his knife and killed herself. Juliet was fourteen and Romeo was sixteen, and the story is a true story, at least in its main lines" (Maria Pia Girolani and Michael Lee).
To this present day, there are many people visiting the house of Juliet for various purposes. Some lovers go there in order that they will gain happy eternal love. Some people just go there because they are curious about the place. I went there because my daughter actually directed a play of Romeo and Juliet for her theater assignment. Therefore, she was very excited to visit the House of Juliet in Verona. It was a hot sunny day with a heavy backpack we walked from the Arena to the house of Juliet. It was not far from the Arena.
When we got to the house of Juliet, there have been many people inside the compound, some of them were busy writing their messages on the walls in both side of the entrance gate. Some of the visitors were busy taking pictures both in the balcony and with the bronze statue of Juliet. It was very crowded, therefore, Kadek and I had to take turn to get closer to the statue of Juliet.
The following are some of the pictures of the graffiti made by visitors.
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| Graffiti on the wall engraved by the visitors |
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| Graffiti on the wall |
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| Visitors touch the right breast of the bronze statue of Juliet |
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| The right breast has become very shinny |
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| Visitors stick their gum on the wall after making a wish |
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| Lovers also locked their love here |
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| Another scene where lovers locked their love |
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| The balcony of Juliet |
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