Love Padlocks Everlasting?
Love Padlocks have been a tradition in Italy and across Europe for years; however, it appears to be a dying one. Love padlocks are intended to symbolize everlasting love. You are supposed to write your name and your lover’s name on a padlock, lock it on a bridge, kiss the key, and throw it into the river. Several of us on the trip were excited to participate in this tradition. Although we saw love padlocks at Juliet’s balcony in Verona and a few random padlock displays here and there, they weren’t on the bridges that we had read about when researching the tradition. We were specifically looking forward to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. We went to the spot where the gate used to be that was filled with love padlocks, however, the gate was gone. All that remained were chains off the side of the bridge that held clusters of love padlocks. Rachel and I had brought padlocks, each with our name and our boyfriend’s name on it and we were determined to put it on the bridge, so we attached our locks to the chain that remained and threw our keys into the Arno River. We were both happy to have been able to get our locks on the bridge but it’s still sad that they had gotten rid of the gate that had all the other locks on it. It appears that as time goes on traditions sometimes slowly die. Perhaps some saw this tradition as an eyesore. Perhaps the upkeep on the gate and managing all the padlocks became too troublesome or costly. But it seems as though lovers have found a solution to keeping this tradition ongoing with the chains over hanging the Arno.
-Lynn Beining
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