Veronese want Romeos to stop

City officials want to stop people posting love letters on wall of Juliet's balcony

Imagine if Romeo had text-messaged his love to Juliet. Romantic? Not, says the founder of Verona's Juliet Club.

Giulio Tamassia is upset that city officials want to stop people from posting their love-letters on a medieval wall outside Juliet's house, known to tourists as Casa di Giulietta.

Chewing gum is the culprit, says city official Andrea Spiazii. It's hazardous to the walls, and one of the means used by people to post their letters to the wall.

The city estimates it will take four months to rid the gum from the walls, and unfortunately, in the process, the thousands of letters already there, will be thrown in the trash.

But the city doesn't want to discourage visitors from coming to the legendary house, so it has decided to provide lovelorn pilgrims with plaster boards to post their heartfelt messages.

Thought is also being given to setting up a giant screen in the house's courtyard to display text messages sent via cell phones.
These novel ideas are a Shakespearean tragedy, says Tamassia. Text messaging kills the romantic mood, and that shouldn't be the case in one of Italy's most famous houses. The letters are a tradition that must be preserved and which can not be substituted by technology, he adds.

Imagine the possibilities: 4 ME U R THE 1.