Giulio Tamassia - Dear Juliet: Letters from the Lovestruck and Lovelorn to Shakespeares Juliet in Verona

To those who believe in the power of love

Copyright 2019 by The Juliet Club and Giulio Tamassia.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-7056-5 (hc), 978-1-4521-7109-8 (epub, mobi)

Design by Lizzie Vaughan and Margherita Buzzi.
Typeset in Recoleta and MrsEaves.

Editorial image credit for all stamps: Shutterstock.com

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L etters have always been an important form of connection, used for both correspondence and documentation. In Latin, littera meant a writing, document, record, and its plural litter means a letter, epistle, missive, and also literature. We have traditionally used letters as a way to share thoughts, express feelings, and deliver news. Letters can tell us about love, friendship, and gratitude. They can be hopeful or full of surprise.

Today, apart from gas bills or junk mail, writing and receiving letters is an unusual occurrence. According the Universal Postal Union, there are 663,000 postal offices, which deliver 368 billion letter-post items a year. However, postal workers calculate that out of one hundred pieces of mail, only two or three contain personal correspondence.

But there is a place where people still handwrite and receive thousands of letters every year. In Verona, more than ten thousand letters arrive annually from every corner of the worldall written to Juliet Capulet, the famous Shakespearean heroine who has become the worldwide confidant of happy and heartbroken lovers alike. The letters are received by the Juliet Club (Club di Giulietta), the very special office where Juliets Secretaries collect, read, and respond to countless messages of love, all in the voice of Juliet.

In addition to the contents richness, the aesthetic expression and style of each letter to Juliet is also wonderfully varied. No letter is like another. Sometimes accompanied by drawings, photographs, or poems, they are written on refined, colored stationary, simple notebook pages, or, in the case of messages left at Juliets House, on the back of a table cover or train ticket.

We owe Ovid (43 BCE17 CE) for giving us the first GreekLatin love letters. In Heroides, he interprets the female soul by assuming the roles of some of mythologys greatest heroines. In imaginative letters written from Penelope, Helen, Medea, Ariadne, Dido, and Phaedra, Ovid captures these womens strengths and their often misunderstood feelings. With this work, Ovid gave life to a new literary genrepoetic letters of love.

Nowadays, we send texts and emails through our phones and computers rather than letters. Yet, there are still thousands of people who pick up a pen and write to Juliet. Perhaps when you want to reach a mythical character, you prefer paper and pen.

Writing a letter is therapeutic, and, by confiding in someone you dont know, it is even easier to open up and discuss deep, intimate sorrows. In these letters to Juliet, there is a magical, mythical, and literary element, which lets us reveal our inner romantic and passionate sides.

A letter also has the allure of uncertainty. Historically, letters were hand carried by often unreliable messengers and tired horses, prevailing against Mother Nature and treacherous roads. Many great works of literature are filled with letters that were never delivered or received too late. Often these letters determined the fate of the characters. A famous example is the failed delivery of Romeos letter, which causes the final tragedy in Shakespeares famous love story. A letter sent today by snail mail (a word that captures this perfectly!) is heightened by the unpredictability of its arrival.

The letter itself is a magical object. You can touch it. You can hold on to it. You can sense the hand that wrote it. From the handwriting to the little details on the pagea flower drawing, a lipstick kiss, or a fingerprintevery letter is different, a surprise. Letters can be kept as precious memories of your life and relationships.

The letters sent to Juliet tell about dreams and hopes, but also heartbreak and pain. They ask for wisdom, courage, and strength. Like your best and wisest friend, she listens and understands like nobody else. She is someone to whom you can confide your most personal troubles.

Today, Juliet is a symbol of pure love. Her spirit is still alive in every heart. She inspires people everywhere to speak and write from the heart, just as we have done for centuries. Although the existence of Juliet is not certain, her story is more real than the surrounding myth; she is more than just a character in a play. Her myth is real. Like Juliet, Verona has transcended its geographical boundaries. Verona is a place of love and romance, a place of yearning for the ones you have and the ones you cannot have. It is a place that celebrates the ephemeral and timeless quality of love.

The rich archive of the Juliet Club now contains hundreds of thousands of letters written in all languages. The letters are often simply addressed: Juliet, Verona. This unique heritage reveals the extraordinary strength of Romeo and Juliet and the universal language of love, the true element that unites human beings from all corners of the world.

Giovanna Tamassia

CLUB DI GIULIETTA

(The Juliet Club)

Dear Juliet,

Do you remember when I came to you with my broken heart and told you that love does not exist? Oh, Juliet! I was so disappointed... I loved, and I was so young and innocent.

I am sorry now that I said so many bad things, but my heart hurt too much thinking about the eleven years I thought I had thrown away in the wind, like leaves in autumn that fade in the cold winter...

I spent months in tears and sadness, but then I decided that the time had arrived to think about myself and to make an old dream come true: get to know Italy! After this trip, I thought, I would know which path to take in life.

I spent the following days noting all of the things I wanted to do and places I wanted to visit: walk down the ancient streets, eat a real pizza, try actual gelato, ride a bike, visit the museums in Rome and Florence, and... music... listen to a lot of music! One of my dreams was to go and see where Vivaldi once lived. While planning my journey, I discovered that an important orchestra was going to play the famous