She lives in a thousand places in Verona—on tote bags, tea towels, in the glow of phone screens held high.

But her official residence, according to Google Maps, is Casa di Giulietta: Verona’s approximation of where Romeo and Juliet ’s balcony scene could have taken place. Basically, it’s a graffiti-covered courtyard where visitors take pictures with a bronze Juliet statue, cupping her right breast—for “good luck,” they say, though it’s hard to ignore the fact that the literary heroine is supposed to be 13. They also write her letters, dropping them in a red mailbox or smushing them to a wall with wads of chewed gum.

It’s gross, really.

The gate to the Casa di Giulietta in Verona. Photo: Getty Images

Still, something sincere slips through. The letters are real. People travel from all

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