When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, did he know that 430 years later it would lead to tourists being charged €12 to stand on a random balcony in Verona? It’s unlikely, given that ‘tourism’ as we know it today wasn’t a thing in the sixteenth century, but we can never know for sure.
However the bard would have felt about it, Verona’s ‘Juliet balcony’ has become one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions – but that popularity has led to overcrowding issues. Now, visitors will have to pay €12 (or £10.50) for access. In addition to this new cost, only 100 people at a time will be allowed inside the house, which is decorated like an upper-class Italian family home from the seventeenth century, at any one time. This is down from 130 in the past.
On top of that, anyone wanting to take photos on the balcony will be given a strict time limit of 60 seconds. Fingers crossed no one’s blinking when the photo’s talen, because there’s no time for do-overs.
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The new fee and its accompanying restrictions have been controversial amongst local tour guides and business owners, but the city’s council insists the measures are necessary ‘for reasons of public safety’. Essentially, they claim the flow of people into the house was unsustainable and uncontrolled, and hope that these new rules will create a better environment for all.
But why do so many people make a pilgrimage to this house anyway? While Shakespeare’s famous play is set in Verona, the house and balcony don’t really have any connection to Romeo & Juliet.
The house itself is medieval, and at some point it was inhabited by a ‘Cappelletti’ family (the name which inspired the ‘Capulet’ name in the play), but that’s about it. The balcony was added in the 1930s, and the statue of Juliet arrived in the ’70s. It has no real claim to the star-crossed lovers, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a nice place to visit if you’re a fan.
The authorities have noted that if the new guidelines result in huge crowds gathering outside of the house, they’ll likely have to introduce a one-way system on the street.
The entrance fee is only in place over the Christmas period, so from January 6, access will be free again. However, it’s unclear if it will return at other busy periods throughout the year.
In the meantime, here are our favourite (actually good) things to do in Italy.
Did you see that this immersive artwork in Paris has been named the world’s best new thing to do next year?
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