At Ponte Navi the love padlocks are attached to cables which cross the Adige River just above the bridge Friday continued Across from the back of the Chiesa San Fermo Maggiore we came to the Ponte Navi. There have been bridges across the Adige River at this point since the Roman era. The first Ponte Navi was built in 1373 and the present bridge was constructed in 1946 after the then existing bridge was destroyed by the Germans in World War II. Ponte Navi was the first place where we saw love padlocks. The padlocks became a fad when the novel Ho Voglia De Te (I Want You) by Federico Moccia had the main characters swear their eternal love by attaching a padlock to the Milvio bridge in Rome and throwing the keys into the Tiber. These love padlocks can now be seen many places across Europe and we would see them at other place in Verona and Paris. The weight of the locks has damaged some structures or light poles and they are not necessarily popular with local city councils.
From Ponte Navi we walked up the Via Leoni toward the center of Verona, first passing the remains of Porta Leoni - the 1st century BC ruins of what was once part of the Roman city gate. We stopped to try some sweets at La Pasticceria Bar Cordioli, where the candies were as beautiful as they tasted.
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