Dec. 14, 2004 — Lovers who stick passionate notes on "the House of Juliet" in Verona, Italy, will have to forget their scribbled amorous words and go digital instead, local authorities have announced.

Thousands of messages are overwhelming the 13th-century house of the Cappello family that is believed to have inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Written on post-it slips, the love notes are often attached to the medieval walls with chewing gum, creating damage and producing a rather disgusting view, according to Verona's tourist council.

"The damage is evident and intolerable. We must do something," Francesca Tamellini, the city's tourism councillor, said.

After the cleaning early next year, Juliet will be given her own telephone number and email address. Lovers from all over the world will have to express their innermost feelings via text messages, which will be displayed on a giant screen inside the house.

Tamellini said that the custodians of Juliet's house have long tried to remove the love notes, only to see them re-appearing in even greater numbers.

Just a couple of passionate notes picked among the thousands left by couples in love:

"My heart beats hard, my words tremble, but my feelings are strong. Just listen, my love," reads one.

"My wandering has ended. I found your lips, and they carved my desire," another.

The little slips, adorned with hearts, arrows or intertwined initials, are left anywhere: inserted between the leaves and branches of shrubs, or plastered with gum on the house's Gothic doors and on the walls, almost up to the legendary balcony where Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague revealed their love to each other.

"I agree that the chewing gum view is somewhat disgusting, but we cannot cancel this tradition altogether. These messages are a genuine expression of fantasy, dreams and passion," Guido Tamassia, head of the Juliet Club, told Discovery News.

He said that the tradition dates from 1937, when the first letter sent to "Juliet, Verona" was found by her tomb.

Now the voluntary association replies more than 5,000 letters sent each year to the same "Juliet, Verona" address.

"I think it is unromantic to see your intimate thoughts displayed on a giant screen. It would be much better to arrange wooden wall panels that could be replaced with new ones when full of messages," he said.