matters of the heart

In the traditional sense, I’m not very romantic. Much to my girlfriends chagrin, I’m sure. I don’t see romance in the conventional means of chocolate, flowers, large glasses of red wine (though the wine can definitely help things along), and Marvin Gaye songs. This is not to say that I find romance silly, or “the hard way to get what I want”. It is just that the objects that are commonly found romantic, I find quite horrid. And maybe it’s because they are just that – common (and horrible). I find most of my romance in humor, and music, and nostalgia, and words, and sometimes in tragedy. For instance, L.A. Hunter would drive me absolutely nuts, but the story of Abelard and Heloise (the dude gets his balls chopped off) is romantic in my eyes. Despite my somewhat uncharacteristic beliefs in where romance is found, this has to be one of the most sentimental, adoring, affectionate and… lets face it… romantic, ideas I have heard in a while.

One of the Eternal City’s oldest bridges has this summer become the focus a grand romantic ritual that has seized the imagination of hundreds of couples from Rome and abroad. Lovers testify to their everlasting love by attaching a chain and a small padlock to a lamp-post on the northern end of the Ponte Milvio Bridge. They write their names on the lock in felt-tip pen and then throw the keys into the River Tiber.

I found out about this in Italy Magazine and can’t wait to do this with my true love. Have you ever carved your lovers initials in a tree?

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