Tourists Now Have To Pay €12 To See Italy’s Famous ‘Romeo & Juliet’ Balcony

Decorated like an upper-class Italian family home from the seventeenth century, this medieval house in Verona with its so‑called ‘Juliet balcony’ has become one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions, drawing huge crowds of Romeo & Juliet fans despite having little real connection to the play. The building was once inhabited by a Cappelletti family, whose name inspired the Capulets, but the famous balcony itself was only added in the 1930s and the statue of Juliet arrived in the 1970s, so the site has no genuine claim to Shakespeare’s star‑crossed lovers – it’s more of a romantic themed stop than an authentic literary landmark. Overcrowding has gotten so bad that access over the Christmas period now costs €12 and visitor numbers inside have been reduced from 130 to 100 at a time, with anyone taking photos on the balcony limited to just 60 seconds, measures the city council defends as necessary for public safety even as local guides and business owners criticise the new fee and restrictions. - Annie McNamee