Wall of Love Gums

Tourism inevitably leads to fakery. Fakery is a harsh word; let's say
"creativity." It might simply be the crystalisation of local culture.
Or it might be the invention of whole new things claiming to be
representative of the authentic, the old, the real. Local people,
doing well enough by the passing trade, are loathe to correct any
mistaken ideas held by enthusiastic tourists. And who is to say that
the creativity of the 2010s is any less important than the creativity
of the 19th century?

Verona is a beautiful town, with a history that goes back over two
thousand years with lots solid traces of that ancient history. But it
has been overtaken by the fact that for 30 or 35 years a certain
balcony in the town has been identified by its owners as having
belonged to the (real) family that was the basis for Juliet's
(fictional) family in Shakespeare's play.

And thus has grown Verona's Number One tourism draw: "Juliet's
balcony" and the little courtyard beneath it. Most visitors do not
have the lead time to book a visit onto the balcony itself (and might
not want to pay the fee anyway), but they can shuffle and turn and
walk sideways through the thick crowd below it. There, in the
courtyard, they can turn their attention to the Wall of Letters,
mostly graffiti, stating the love of visiting tourists for their
amorous objects; or the Wall of Locks, where they can mark their
initials and perhaps a heart on a padlock locked to a high double gate
(most of the locks are made especially for the purpose of selling to
tourists); or leave a piece of well-chewed gum (presumably chewed by
both lovers, setting in uhh gum their mixed and loving saliva) on the
Wall of Love Gums. Often names and initials are written or carved
into the gum.

This particular Wall of Gums does not have the reputation of being
among the five most "germy" tourist sites in the world, but I would
not think it is very different from the one in the USA that is on that
list.