Follow In The Footsteps Of ........
Vanessa Redgrave and Shakespeare’s Juliet in Verona.
The beautiful Italian city of Verona is once more the focus of cinematic – as well as real-life Hollywood - romance.
The location for Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare’s tragic tale of doomed lovers from rival familes, the Montagus and Capulets, is now the setting for a new film, Letters to Juliet, which opens in UK cinemas this week.
But it isn’t only the film’s plot that is the focus for an amorous link.
The American romantic comedy stars 78 year-old British actress Vanessa Redgrave alongside Franco Nero (father of her 40 year-old son), whom she has just revealed is now her ‘unofficial’ husband.
Redgrave admitted recently that she and Nero – having originally fallen in love while making the musical film Camelot in 1967 - split shortly after their son was born. But Redgrave insists she never felt she and Nero had parted and they decided to declare their love for one another before family and friends in 2006, in a secret “commitment ceremony” which was not legally binding.
The film, which revolves around reunited lovers – aptly played by Redgrave and Nero - will do nothing to quell Verona’s image as the city for love.
The plot centres on a young woman, played by Amanda Seyfried, who leaves New York for a pre-honeymoon with her fiance to Verona. While sightseeing around the area, and visiting Siena, she finds "Juliet's House" – the house (with balcony) where Juliet Capulet supposedly lived.
Ironically, Shakespeare is very unlikely ever to have set foot in Verona. However, his source for the plot of Romeo and Juliet was derived from an Italian story set in the town, featuring two feuding families with names similar to those of historical Veronese dynasties.
Whether you believe that Verona has any direct link to Shakespeare's work is up to you, but it is indisputably one of Italy's loveliest towns, also famous for its summer opera season. Today, smart shops and cafés fill the attractive medieval lanes of the historic centre.
So whether you are seeking a romantic location for a special tryst, a night at the opera inside the awe-inspiring Roman arena, or just want to stop over en route to Venice or lovely Lake Garda, Haslemere Travel can find you the perfect spot.
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