Juliet's Balcony

Macy

Macy

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Jul 19, 2013
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Is the famous balcony in Verona really the actual balcony from the Romeo and Juliet story written by Shakespeare? From what I heard the balcony is quite small, and it would have been impossible for Romeo to climb onto this balcony. :)
 
Well, if you were expecting an "yes", I'm sorry to disappoint :P

The balcony is in fact real, the house belonged to the Bartolomeo family, Verona was ruled by Prince Bartolomeo I della Scala for real, ages ago though.

The story of Romeo and Juliet was inspired by other stories written before. All in all, Romeo and Juliet's story is not real, but is it based on real facts.

There's also a legend that says that a girl killed herself out of love because she and the man she loved couldn't be together.

The first one who wrote about this legend was actually Luigi da Porta and not Shakespeare. He wrote about "Giulietta" and "Romeus" and created the fictional characters of "Mercutio" and "Tybalt". Then, inspired by Luigi da Porta, Matteo Bandello wrote Romeo and Juliet and so on :)

The balcony is physically real, but the story isn't, it's just a legend written and rewritten until it became famous.
 
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I have always wanted to visit the famous balcony at some point in my life. Romeo and Juliet is a significant story in our society. Almost everyone you talk to knows it in some form or another and it's a great love/tragedy story.
 
Thanks Luca :)

Yeah, everyone has heard about the Romeo and Juliet story :) I wonder how many people have actually read it though :rolleyes: hehehe

Although the balcony is not the real thing, it's one of the biggest attractions in the area. Verona is gaining a lot of money from tourists visiting it, the locals are really smart people :D
 
At present, it is free to see the balcony but I read a few months ago that Verona city hall was thinking of charging to see it.

I'm not sure if those plans are still going ahead but it's still worth a visit to put an image to the famous story.
 
Rosie said:
Well, if you were expecting an "yes", I'm sorry to disappoint :p

The balcony is in fact real, the house belonged to the Bartolomeo family, Verona was ruled by Prince Bartolomeo I della Scala for real, ages ago though.

The story of Romeo and Juliet was inspired by other stories written before. All in all, Romeo and Juliet's story is not real, but is it based on real facts.

There's also a legend that says that a girl killed herself out of love because she and the man she loved couldn't be together.

The first one who wrote about this legend was actually Luigi da Porta and not Shakespeare. He wrote about "Giulietta" and "Romeus" and created the fictional characters of "Mercutio" and "Tybalt". Then, inspired by Luigi da Porta, Matteo Bandello wrote Romeo and Juliet and so on :)

The balcony is physically real, but the story isn't, it's just a legend written and rewritten until it became famous.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting information. I didn't know that the Juliet's balcony was actually real. I am aware that Shakespeare is the master of improvisation. So it's not a surprise that he placed his own twist on a legend. I would like to visit that balcony some time.
 
While the balcony may be small the courtyard area is well worth the visit. I toured the house and the curator was excellent and really told a lot about the history of Verona and its connection with Romeo and Juliet. The wall with love notes posted I think was the coolest park. Makes you really think to appreciate the loved ones in our lives. A must see if you are traveling to Northern Italy.
 
I would love to take some time to visit this balcony, especially now that I'm more familiar with the history behind it. The courtyard mentioned by BonnieA sounds incredible, as well. I hope I get there while the attraction is still free!

And for the record, I HAVE read Romeo and Juliet. ;)hehe
 
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