Verona. The setting of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. A UNESCO World Heritage Site. A short distance from the stunning shores of Lake Garda. How much more romantic could a city possibly be?

Speaking of Juliet you can, along with thousands of others, visit her house, view “that” balcony, pose for a picture next to a bronze statue of the lady herself. You can also bring yourself luck by touching her well-polished right breast. Any they say romance is dead? What do you mean “Romeo and Juliet was a work of fiction so there is no Juliet’s house”? Ssh – don’t tell the tourist board.

In fact possibly the most interesting thing about visiting “Juliet’s house” is the entrance where the gateway to the courtyard is covered by decade’s worth of “romantic” graffiti. This is not your standard “Dave 4 Julie” type stuff though I am sure among the tens of thousands of messages those particular words will be there somewhere.

Because the graffiti is not only tolerated but actually encouraged every inch of the walls on either side of the walkway are completely covered with messages up to a height of around 3m. Once all the walls had been covered and there was no space left to write someone had the bright idea of sticking messages over the existing graffiti – undying love is declared on thousands of post-it notes, scraps of paper and sticking plasters. Corny?