Copy Italian Love Expression

Location: Verona

Prove your eternal love the Italian way by locking your love and losing your keys into the river...



In 2007, a romance movie based upon the novel "Ho Voglia di Te" which means "I want you" was released in Italy and it started a ritual in Italy, Rome.

In both the novel and the movie, a teenage couple is seen writing their names on an ordinary padlock and locking it with a chain around the third lamppost of the bridge Ponte Milvio or Milvian Bridge in Rome. (Hmm I did not visit this bridge though because at that time, I did not know this is the bridge that started the tradition.)

Florence's walking tour guide told us that the movie was not fantastic but the Italian guy was very handsome and soon countless of Italian teenagers began imitating the practice on the Ponte Milvio, then throwing the keys into the Tiber River in a gesture of undying love.

Considering that the movie was released in March 9 2007, but by April 2007 there were too many young lovers imitating the ritual that the lamppost begun to buckle under the weight of so many padlocks. This shows how popular the tradition became.

With regards to Ponte Milvio, the Mayor of Rome had all of the original lovelocks moved to Rome's City Hall for display after the lamppost collapsed in July 2007. Lovers can still continue to lock their love at the bridge as the City of Rome has attached chains to each lamp and the locks are applied to these chains to preserve the street lamps.

Credits: Pwnstar
Location: Florence

Elsewhere in Italy, as long as there are bridges across the rivers, regardless whether fines are imposed or not, people continue to prove their eternal love via these locks.

Source
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/node/970
Wiki - Ponte Milvio