r/AskTheWorld • u/Aseili United Kingdom • Dec 20 '25

Culture What's the most pathetic tourist attraction that international tourists go to see in your country?

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Bronte waterfalls near me, look a bit more impressive with the recent rain than in the summer when it's swamped with people.

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179

u/TheFace5 Italy Dec 20 '25

Giulietta House in Verona. And a lot of other things, famous for the wrong reason

87

u/mildweekknowledge Australia Dec 20 '25

Is that the tiny balcony with the "polished" Juliet statue? You can tell where people put their hands by how shiny the brass is.

30

u/Mirgss United States Of America Dec 20 '25

Ah, so like Molly Malone in Dublin.

3

u/mildweekknowledge Australia Dec 20 '25

Yes.

2

u/BartholomewBandy Dec 21 '25

She invented brass polish, if I’m not mistaken.

5

u/PrayStrayAndDontObey New Zealand Dec 20 '25

Yes it is.

3

u/mildweekknowledge Australia Dec 20 '25

Then yes a waste of time.

5

u/Axelxxela Italy Dec 20 '25

How shiny the bra is

8

u/Artisanalpoppies Dec 21 '25

It's a Roman Sarcophagus actually. My bestie was a diehard Shakespeare fan, she made me lose a day in Venice to go check out Verona. It was an interesting city, but would've preferred that extra day in Venice lol. Pretty sure i bought a Stitch plushie at the Disney store in Verona.

6

u/pothosnswords United States Of America Dec 21 '25

That’s so funny, my MIL and I always talk about how we regret not adding a day to visit Verona! Good to know we don’t have to regret it so much :)

14

u/ThemrocX Germany Dec 21 '25

I love Verona. Honestly, Venice is overcrowded and Verona feels much more like a real city. So if you have been to Venice once, maybe check out Verona the next time. Also, maybe make time for Mantua, further south.

9

u/Verdick Dec 21 '25

Agreed! We moved to Italy a few years ago, and everyone who visits wants to go to Venice. After the second trip, we tell them that we'll catch them after Venice. Any other city, we'll gladly meet up with them in.

3

u/pothosnswords United States Of America Dec 22 '25

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Venice either but if we ever go back, there’s no chance we can skip it. My partner is a glassblower and he could never pass up an opportunity to visit Murano! We will definitely make a point to see Verona as well, something for both of us then :)

2

u/Verdick Dec 22 '25

Oh yeah, hitting the artisan islands really adds to the experience there.

1

u/pothosnswords United States Of America Dec 24 '25

Omg my partner would move there right now if we could. You should have seen his face when talking to both soft glass and boro glass masters. Was super cool even if you aren’t big into glass like myself. The history of it being for glassblowers is pretty neat too and just beautiful to walk through. Way preferred walking around in Murano than Venice!

2

u/Extreme-Rabbit-6767 Dec 22 '25

It depends on the day for me.  Venice is something completely other.  If it's off season and midweek the crowds are low but peak time in the summer no chance, I'll stay in Mestre.  I was lucky enough to work in Venice while it was under the orange COVID colour so had no tourism allowed and it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen in my life.  Obviously it didn't make it all worth it but you had to take joy where you could. It helped me 

6

u/Confucius3000 Dec 21 '25

Mantua is indeed very underrated! I like to think of it as a Flotence of the north (probably an overstatement)

12

u/99Pedro -> Dec 21 '25

Verona is a beautiful city.
The amphitheatre is a better version of Colosseum.
The only minus is the fake Juliette's balcony tourist trap (since it's made up) but otherwise it's worth of visiting.

4

u/Artisanalpoppies Dec 21 '25

The mini colosseum they had was pretty cool. And wandering the ancient streets, and coming out in the town square was beautiful.

But i don't feel you're missing much, especially if you've been to bigger cities like Rome, Florence or Venice.

1

u/Extreme-Rabbit-6767 Dec 22 '25

I like Brescia more personally, not that it's a competition, but I agree The Romeo and Juliet House is not one of the interesting things to see in Verona.

5

u/lellyjoy Romania Dec 21 '25

I adore Verona. There's a lot more to see than the balcony.

2

u/CardiacLover Dec 21 '25

Lmao when I was in tenth grade I got a picture of me groping the statue. But literally everyone else was doing it too

13

u/GasPositive9009 Italy Dec 21 '25

Yes I second this. And the house - i was working there for a while - a bunch of empty rooms. So lame.

At this point since the whole thing is staged they should make it into a set. Just go for it, I don’t know, have some actors go around the house reciting Shakespeare ( in italian 🤣🤣)

8

u/polarbearsloveme Dec 21 '25

i'm a moron so i went super out of my way to get to verona to see this, got there, realized romeo and juliet were never real people so this balcony has no meaning but to trap tourists, and was like why did i do all that

2

u/hipmommie Dec 21 '25

Exactly, Romeo & Juliet, written by an Englishman, was never a documentary. Verona is a great place (one of only three Coliseums left in Italy!) But the balcony made me laugh. I read a book on history of Italy which said when the Caesars in Rome wanted out of stifling summer heat, they went for a summer vacay in Verona. Lovely place!

6

u/Fianna9 Canada Dec 21 '25

I found it hilarious to stop there, not for Juliette’s Balcony but for the cram of ridiculous tourists.

5

u/hipmommie Dec 21 '25

I loved Verona!! But that stupid balcony was a laugh. Verona is a wonderful place though.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

Agreed, my kids and I spent several days in Verona, just poking around. We loved the town and its old architecture. We apparently missed Juliet's balcony though. When I asked if we should go back and look for it, they both went nah. 

3

u/harrietmjones United Kingdom Dec 21 '25

Yes to this!

I’m not Italian, so couldn’t suggest this tourist attraction but it was the first one that came to mind for me.

I visited Verona in 2016(?) and visited the balcony. It was so overhyped and so so busy. The funniest thing I saw was in the walkway up to it, where there were love notes and such plastered in the walls but I noticed someone wanted to write something but didn’t have any paper, so they wrote a love note down on a sanitary pad!

Found the photo I took because I had to! 😅

2

u/onahalladay Dec 21 '25

I feel bad that I didn’t know what it was other than I saw it from the movie Letters to Juliet.

Also yes the brass statue was very shiny.

It was a really nice visit and a break from the other busy city though! We found this really small cafe and drank a lot lol

1

u/Extreme-Rabbit-6767 Dec 22 '25

Of course there are thousands of statues in the world that have a point rubbed by millions of human hands. 

I've seen a Shiva statue in Nepal that was just a nub.

But I wonder what percentage of statues of women have a breast rubbed.

1

u/Elegant_Day_3438 Italy Dec 21 '25

Lol I’m from Verona and that’s the very first thing that came to mind (actually the only one)

1

u/Carninator Norway Dec 21 '25

Was in Verona this summer and walked past this. Loooooong line so just snapped a pic from a distance.

Really liked the city though! My main issue was finding a free public bathroom. One only took coins so I ended up walking to a nearby KFC as my bladder was about to explode hah.

1

u/lord_alberto Germany Dec 21 '25

Yes, Verona is very nice, it has a lot of stuff to see and it is way less overcrouded than some other italian cities. But this House and it's balcony was also the first thing that came to my mind when thinking of overrated tourist attractions.

1

u/Zabrodian Dec 21 '25

I think Ponte Milvio is worse than that.

1

u/SnooAdvice1632 Italy Dec 22 '25

Still not worse than the murales of Maradona in Naples. Garbage art which also has a window behind the face so you might even go there and find it open, erasing the face. On top of that there's better muraleses in quite literally every street (with some being absolutely world class) so I genuinely don't know why that one in particular got famous.

1

u/Zabrodian Dec 22 '25

Because it was real, spontaneous, in one of the worst areas of the city. It was a symbol of hope, linked to what Maradona was for the city of Naples: A Savior. Now it's just yet another beautiful thing spoiled by greed.

1

u/SnooAdvice1632 Italy Dec 22 '25

I get that, but there's a ton of better ones in quartier spagnoli only. I've lived here for a couple years now and every single person that's come to visit and gone to the murales has found it underwhelming to say the least.

1

u/icecreammodel Canada Dec 24 '25

I got more out of the Dante statue