The balcony in Verona where Romeo is said to have wooed Juliet has been made available to same-sex couples seeking civil unions, months after Italy became the last major European country to legalise the partnerships.

Verona’s city council announced this week that all municipal venues traditionally available to heterosexual couples getting married could also be used by same-sex couples entering civil unions. These include the Casa di Giulietta, a renovated medieval residence that once belonged to a noble family, the del Cappellos, who are believed by locals to have inspired Shakespeare’s fictional Capulets.

The council said that Verona, like every other municipality, was awaiting instructions from authorities on how the new unions needed to be recorded, but that the city was already making preparations to host the celebrations. About 20 requests have so far been received.

“It’s an economic issue, sure, to have these ceremonies here, but it is also significant because the house of Juliet is a symbol and the city of Verona is symbolic, too,” said Flavio Tosi, the city’s mayor.

Although the star-crossed lovers’ own union was short-lived, couples might nevertheless find Casa di Giulietta attractive. According to the venue’s website, Juliet’s house – a destination of choice for “hundreds of visitors around the world who want to pay tribute to love” – was restored in the 20th century. It includes furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries, frescoes that tell the story of the doomed teenage romance, Renaissance-era ceramics, and a carving of the del Cappello coat of arms in a courtyard arch.

In an old promotion still visible on the website, a Valentine’s Day wedding in Juliet’s house, including music and a “toast of love”, cost €300 for local residents and €600 for others.

Authorities in Rome announced this week that civil unions could begin to take place during the Ferragosto holiday in mid-August, with the chief sponsor of the legislation, Democratic party senator Monica Cirinnà, announcing that there would be “rainbow-coloured confetti” for all.

It was also made clear this week that mayors opposed to the unions would not legally be able to refuse to carry them out, despite pronouncements by some that their refusal would be a matter of conscientious objection.



Alongside Verona, the beaches of Viareggio and the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Venice was also likely to be a popular choice, La Repubblica noted – despite the city’s mayor refusing to allow a gay pride march.

Although the passage of the civil union legislation was a major achievement for prime minister Matteo Renzi, who overcame resistance from Italian bishops and conservative lawmakers, the final law was a watered-down version of the original. Marriage is still off-limits for same-sex couples and an effort to extend certain parental rights to LGBT couples was quashed after last-minute manoeuvring by lawmakers in the populist Five Star Movement.

Italy’s decades-long resistance to gay rights was condemned by the European court of human rights last year, which ruled that the country was violating human rights by not offering adequate legal protection and recognition to same-sex couples. The ruling is believed to have helped the passage of the civil union legislation.

Some mayors – including Rome’s former mayor, Ignazio Marino – had sought to take matters into their own hands in the years before the legislation was passed, by staging their own ceremonies for same-sex couples. But those unions were invalidated by the courts, which called them symbolic but not legally binding.