History and kitsch rite: the memory of Ponte Milvio in Rome

Take a New Year's Day, January 2 for example, we combine a mix of light rain and clouds, a few degrees less than the average seasonal weather, and we get a recipe for one of the places visited by publishing a reborn book (and then the release of a film).
What? Two words suffice: Ponte Milvio.

It would be fun, especially in Rome, and elsewhere in Italy, stopping passersby and asking them what associate Ponte Milvio, and we would probably expect a bitter truth: We see why thousands of years of history have been wiped out from the pages of the novel Federico Moccia, I want you (2006) and the eponymous film (2007) - film immediately became a hit among the teen audience, and more.

Milvian Bridge, built in the third century BC, was created as one of the pivot points of the Roman city, but it is only in 312 AD, with the famous battle between Maxentius and Constantine - winner, as is known, Constantine - portrayed, among other in the cycle of frescoes by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo (1458-1466), is devoted to the history.
And of course, the tradition of the locks and bridges has origins before *, but it is up to Moccia renewal of a ritual that basks in the line between romance and kitsch that is perfectly suited to some aspects of the taste of the twenty-first century.

So, today, Ponte Milvio is a destination for alternative tourism and, as if it were a historical monument or a museum, is visited daily by a bustle of couples who declare their everlasting love by writing their names on a padlock and then hooked a chain (the locks were originally hung from lampposts, but the excessive load had caused the collapse, hence the decision to place the racks) and throwing the key into the Tiber. Some even made it a business - both live and online, selling bolts of different colors, shapes and sizes to each his own, then.

But, summing up, what is the limit not to cross because the writing that flood the bridge become vandalism (to the detriment of shareholders)?
At least, pay attention to spelling.

And yes, for those who accompanied me in this sort of trip out of town - rather, outside the center: even this is Rome, and is a part of it rather (and unexpectedly) funny.




* It is said that the first to throw the bolts from the bridges were soldiers at the end of the lever - the first in Merano and then from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.