love thursday: scribblings on a seawall

Not too long ago, a friend pointed me to an article about a lamp post in Rome that has become famous for lovers attaching padlocks and then throwing the keys into the Tiber River–hoping to lock up the permanency of their relationship so to speak.

Like nearly everything, this lamp post has become a political issue, which is what is discussed in the article, but my friend spotted the piece and thought it’d make for a lovely Love Thursday.

And indeed it would.

But then a few days ago, Shelley of At Home in Rome photographed the lamp post personally, and she has shared more of the story with the blogosphere. No need to rehash here as Shelley’s got it covered, but this past weekend, I made an interesting discovery–down here in Calabria, we have our own little lovely tradition.

It’s not as visually stunning as the padlocks, and some may call it nasty graffiti, but what I see is (I’m guessing) young love poured out onto a wall that lines the promenade in Catanzaro Lido.

Cristian,
You are my life.
Thank you for existing.

Valentine’s Day
You’re not with me…
I had wanted to spend this day with you…
Patience…
I will love you forever, Giù (Giuseppe)…
Your Cate (Caterina)!!!

Live with me without fear
(song lyric by Laura Pausini)

I love you Lilly

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

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[tags]love thursday, graffiti, catanzaro, catanzaro lido, seawalls, sea, ionian sea, love notes, southern italy, calabria[/tags]

17 Beans of Wisdom to “love thursday: scribblings on a seawall”
  1. Shelley - At Home in Rome
    03.15.2007

    Warm fuzzies! And even more romantic given the proximity to the sea. Che belllloooo!

  2. Cherrye
    03.15.2007

    Those were nice…but, wasn’t there one about ‘for a good time call???’ – not so appropriate for Love Thursdays, I suppose! 🙂

  3. Giulia
    03.15.2007

    I’m probably gonna be in the minority here, but I cringe every time I drive anywhere and see property totally destroyed by graffiti. It’s just wrong. There are so many other ways to display your affection towards someone without damaging someone’s property.

  4. nova
    03.15.2007

    I think it’s beautiful.

  5. Johnaesthetica
    03.15.2007

    It’s easy to see why someone would have amore sul’mente with views like that!

  6. nyc/caribbean ragazza
    03.15.2007

    aah, amore!

  7. Cassie
    03.15.2007

    That’s obscenely beautiful. Thanks for sharing! Happy LT!

  8. Waspgoddess
    03.15.2007

    Nothing as pure and innocent as young love.

    Have you and P carved your names anywhere?

  9. Bongga Mom
    03.15.2007

    I’m with Giulia on this one, it’s sad to see the graffitti, but I suppose if they are going to vandalize something then better messages of love rather than obscenities. Somehow I prefer initials carved into a tree (is it any different? I don’t know). Not something I would expect to encounter in your beautiful world!

  10. Wendy
    03.15.2007

    Thanks for sharing and leading us to another great blog, At Home in Rome. I’m adding it to my blogroll.

  11. nikinpos
    03.15.2007

    Haha! Positano graffitti is like that! my favorite is ‘tia mo’.

  12. Indiana Amy
    03.15.2007

    Well that’s a postiive way to look at grafitti! Good for you!

  13. J.Doe
    03.15.2007

    I’m with giula and bonga mom, graffiti looks horrible on buildings and uglifies the area it’s in no no mstter what it says.

  14. PastorMac's Ann
    03.16.2007

    Around here if someone tried to paint their love like this a city crew would be right behind to paint it over. The padlocks would probably be a more permanent sign. Oh well.

    Happy LT.

  15. Janie Hickok Siess, Esq.
    03.16.2007

    Hi there!

    Just wanted to let you know that I continued the story I started a few weeks ago. You can read it here:
    “Why Did I Say ‘Yes’?”

  16. sognatrice
    03.16.2007

    Interesting comments 🙂

    I’m not a huge fan of graffiti either, but in Italy, it’s absolutely everywhere–Shelley (At Home in Rome) posted on this as well.

    For me personally, I don’t know…I suppose all art is objective anyway, so I’m not all that offended by the scribbling on the wall; except for the last pic, you really can’t tell there’s anything written on it until you’re up close. And if you’ve ever been to Calabria, you know there’s not much to do, especially at a beach with no waves, so reading the love messages actually gives you something to do (although Cherrye, Peppe, Dawn, and I seemed to be the only ones even paying attention to them) 😉

  1. [...] year at this time, some of you were disturbed when I posted Scribblings on a Seawall–love notes wr... bleedingespresso.com/2008/03/love-thursday-love-notes-on-a-cactus.html
Michelle KaminskyMichelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived. 

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