The 2010 film was inspired by one of Italy’s most famous tourist attractions, Juliet’s House, from William Shakespeare’s novel
One of the most memorable films of 2010, Letters to Juliet tells the story of the journalist Sophie, who goes to Italy with her boyfriend and, there, meets the Juliet’s secretariesa group of women who split up to respond to the hundreds of letters written to the heroine of the most tragic story of all time.
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From Juliet’s House, in Verona, thoughts, stories and requests for love advice respond in Juliet’s name. In the film the plot develops from there, but it’s not something exclusive to fiction. Secretaries and Juliet’s house really exist in real life, as 27-year-old Brazilian Deborah Almeida demonstrated.
During her trip to Italy at the beginning of the year, the young woman, a big fan of the novel and the film, decided to take a risk and write one of the famous letters to the secretaries, without having any intention of replying. About 10 months after sending it, the surprise arrived: the letter! Signed and addressed, just like the movie.
Al Earthsays she was shocked when she received information from her mother that she had received a return letter. “I bought a ticket to go to Italy, [mas] go to the Vatican. And then, since I would be there, I had a great desire to visit Verona too. Because of Romeo and Juliet and the movie, which I’ve seen trillions of times. So, I researched whether it was real and it was real,” he says.
“I bought the ticket to be able to go to the museum, which is Juliet’s House. I did some research [sobre as secretárias]but I only found old blog posts, I couldn’t find anything recent. I said, ‘Ah, I’ll write the letter and put it there.’ However, I couldn’t be sure whether it would arrive or not,” Deborah explained.
Deborah says she wrote the letter while she was still on the train, which was going from Venice to Verona. When he arrived at the museum, he placed it in a letterbox, suitable for secretaries. “I followed my intuition about what I should do. I wrote the letter in English and said they could reply in English or Portuguese and put my address, but I just didn’t think it would arrive, you know? (laughs),” he reports.
“I wrote, just like in the film, what I wanted. There are people asking for advice, I made another outburst and the response I received was very nice,” he says. “I was very, very emotional about the letter because it was a total violation of expectations. […] Part of me thought it would be a generic response or letter, like “thank you for talking to Juliet”, “do you believe in love”. And it was such a personal thing.
The letter arrived in its envelope, with stamps, a postage stamp from Juliet’s Clubthe official name of the Secretaries, and written in Portuguese. The entire process was shared on social media and, to Deborah’s surprise, went viral.
The video is finished 365 thousand views and almost 50 thousand likes. “I was scared. Because, for example, I post one thing or another on TikTok and my friends are the ones who see it. And then, I opened the normal app and it crashed. […] I went and looked at the number of views, DMs, likes and people saving… It was out of nowhere,” he says.
The impact was so great that, amidst the opinions, the secretary who responded to Deborah’s letter managed to find her. “He recognized him from his handwriting and sent me a message,” he reveals.
@deborahalmeida97 I received a letter from Juliet 💌 the ultimate romantic 💘
Letters to Juliet
The tradition of answering letters began in the 1930s, when the first one was sent. According to the club’s official website, the phenomenon has made Verona the capital of love. Thousands of letters arrive from all over the world, which are answered by a team of volunteers. Those interested can send it by mail, in person, as Deborah did, and also by email.
In the house, in addition to the statue of Juliet, whose legend says that whoever holds her breast will get married, there is also the famous balcony, where Romeo declares himself to Juliet.
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
