Italy is not just Juliet Verona.

Sophie is an investigator of a magazine in new york and dreams of becoming a formal writer. Her fiance Victor likes delicious food and is making nervous preparations for her upcoming restaurant. As the wedding approached, the two decided to go to Italy for their honeymoon.

The romantic city of Verona is their first stop, and Juliet's former residence, which is located on the path, allows Sophie to witness a brokenhearted by chance.

Italy is located in the south of Europe, and consists of boot-shaped Apennine Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia and other islands scattered in the Mediterranean Sea. The rich land types make the scenery in its territory unique.

The Alps in the north are covered with snow all year round and frozen for thousands of miles;

Sicily in the south is sunny and warm as spring.

Apennine Peninsula is also called "Italian Peninsula", but it is actually surrounded by two tiny countries-San Marino and Vatican.

The shooting locations of "Letter to Juliet" in Italy are all distributed on the peninsula, mainly Verona on the Adige River and the medieval ancient city of Siena.

The famous play Romeo and Juliet made Verona's name popular all over the world. As a "city of love", countless tourists who yearn for love come here every year to find the mark of Romeo and Juliet.

Sophie and Victor are one of them.

Verona has a long history. In the first century BC, it was an important city of the Roman Empire. It faces the Alps in the north and Venice in the east, and the Adige River runs through the city. At the same time, Verona is also a transportation hub between Italy and Europe connected by railways and highways, and it can be called the gateway of Italy.

The word "Verona" means "extremely elegant city" in Latin.

From the air, you can see beautiful scenery.

Dheurle Bay Square began in the Roman Empire, when it was a place where citizens gathered. Now, there are many shops on both sides of the street, mostly small shops dealing in flowers, fruits and vegetables.

The buildings in and around the square were built from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and the fountain sculpture named Virgin Verona is the oldest one-it was built in 380 AD.

Bra Square is the largest square in Verona and a traditional market and business district.

There are many famous buildings around it, such as-

In neoclassical style, it is the Barbieri Palace in Verona City Hall.

The Grand Guardia Palace, built in 16 10, took more than two centuries to build after many twists and turns.

But the most famous is the Verona Arena, which was built in the first century A.D., and its history is longer than that of the Colosseum in Rome.

In ancient Rome, the Romans built more than 60 arenas, only one tenth of which were preserved by later generations, and the Colosseum in Verona was the best preserved one.

Walking in the square behind Sophie is the figure of the arena.

Like all arenas, it was originally built for fighting animals. Today, the Colosseum in Verona is famous for holding large-scale opera performances, which can accommodate 20,000 people at one time and attract more than 500,000 tourists every year.

Via Pellicciai is next to baicao square. This is a pedestrian street extending from the square, with many restaurants and bars on both sides, which is convenient for people who are tired of traveling to stop here temporarily.

The arched door frame on Sophie's left, that is, to the east of Fur Street, belongs to Domus Mercatorum, which was built as early as 12 10. It was a gathering place for local businessmen in the Middle Ages, and now it is the office of Banca Popolare di Verona.

Starlite St. Kyle Hotel is also near White Grass Square and Fur Street. Winding between low-rise buildings and alleys, walking inside is quite "winding and secluded".

Not surprisingly, Sophie and Vocitor stayed in a fictional place-the crew just chose a door on the steps of St. Kyle as the entrance to the hotel.

Romeo and Juliet is so famous that many people mistakenly think it is one of Shakespeare's "four great tragedies". However, although it is not among them, it is still on a par with Hamlet in it, and * * * has become the most popular Shakespeare play.

In addition to frequent dramas, film and television works of the same name are also being filmed. Oscar newcomer Xiao Lizi also played Romeo in Romeo.

The most classic version is the' 68 edition directed by Italian director franco zeffirelli.

In the film, the hero and heroine under the age of 18 restore the romantic feelings between Romeo and Juliet to the extreme. During this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, this edition was also included in the exhibition unit of Shakespeare's works.

In the night, Juliet told her love for Romeo in the air from the balcony, but her words were hidden in her heart. After exposing their hiding place, Romeo and Juliet confided their hearts to each other across the balcony before dawn.

Such a romantic and legendary story makes Casady Giulietta a popular attraction in Verona. Sophie, who is separated from Victor, also chose this place.

There are many tourists here all year round. Visitors who love drama will also stand on the legendary balcony and improvise for a while; Just like in A Letter to Juliet, believers in love write their thoughts on paper and stick them on the wall.

The difference is—

In the movie, a woman with a sad past sticks letters on the outer wall of a two-story building in Shi Zhuan, or stuffs them into a gap. In fact, the former residence itself only allows visitors to paste their own fragments on the promenade outside the courtyard gate and the low wall outside the building. In the film, Sophie knocks off Shi Zhuan on the wall and finds a letter that has been dusty for 50 years. This wall was built temporarily for the crew. After all, the cost of "destroying" the real building is too high.

The letter found in the crack in the wall belongs to Claire. Sophie wrote a reply and sent it. At this point, Claire has white hair. After receiving the reply, she returned to Verona accompanied by her grandson Charlie.

She stood in court, recalling the past. The bronze statue of Juliet beside me has stood here for decades.

Just like in the film, it's a bit of a bad taste, but many tourists believe that touching the right chest of the bronze statue will bring good luck to your love and marriage. The right chest of the bronze statue also became shiny because it was touched all the year round. In recent years, it has been worn out and needs urgent repair.

At dusk, there are fewer and fewer tourists. Sophie is sitting in the yard writing a letter to Juliet. A lady suddenly visited and took the letter from the wall. Sophie hurried out after each other, wondering where the letter was sent. Finally, I found myself standing in front of the door with the sign "Trattoria Lettere a Giuilietta", and saw the person who took the letter meet several other elderly ladies and walked into the house.

It turns out that these people collect the letters written by tourists to Juliet, and then write a reply in the name of Juliet's secretary and send it to each other.

In this way, Sophie met "Juliet's secretaries" and joined them.

The restaurant named "Letter to Juliet" doesn't actually exist. During the filming, this property by the Adige River happened to be free, and the crew set up a fictional restaurant here temporarily. Today, there is a Punto just the original site of Verona.

but

Juliet's secretaries are all real people. They are a group of volunteers from Julieta Club.

The name ettore Solimani is unknown, but he is the first volunteer of the club. He used to be the grave keeper of Juliet's cemetery. From 1930, out of love for Juliet and understanding of lovelorn people, he will reply to some notes left by tourists at night.

In the 1990s, Solimani had retired for many years. Some local fans in Verona decided to formalize the reply to tourists' letters and set up the "Juliet Club". To this end, the local government decided that volunteers should provide stationery and stamps at their own expense.

Over time, the club began to have 48-year-old female dancers, 55-year-old male photographers, 265,438+0-year-old freelancers and so on, and gradually formed a team of more than 20 people. At the same time, a special website has been set up: Juliet Club official website (click to open)-

Intimately, there is a special channel named "Write to Juliet" on the homepage of official website Club, so that people all over the world can write to Juliet remotely through the Internet.

When Claire received a reply from Juliet's secretary like other tourists, it was fifty years since she wrote to Juliet.

What happened to this belated reply besides taking Claire back to Verona, who is over 500 years old? Did the story of Romeo and Juliet really take place in Verona?

Please see the next issue: Italy is not just Juliet | Siena.

* Except for copyright, all pictures are from the Internet.