Romeo and Juliet: Couple who met across balconies in lockdown get engaged in Italy

Verona: A couple who met across balconies during Italy’s covid-19 lockdown are now engaged to be married, in what the media has dubbed a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet.

The romance between the pair blossomed between balconies on either side of a street in the north Italian city of Verona, the setting of Shakespeare’s story of two star-crossed lovers.

Michele D’Alpaos, 38, says it was “love at first sight” when he first caught a glimpse of Paola Agnelli, 40, walking across her rooftop terrace on the evening of 17 March, days after Italy went into lockdown.

Despite living on opposite sides of the same street for most of their lives, the pair had never seen each other until the quarantine.

On that evening in mid-March their eyes met for the first time as Paola’s sister played the violin, a daily appointment to bring cheer to the quarantined neighbourhood.

Michele was captivated by the beauty of his neighbour and it soon became apparent that the feeling was mutual. As fate would have it, Paola knew Michele’s sister from her gym and they followed each other on Instagram.

When Michele realised this, he created an Instagram profile just to make contact with Paola, and the pair ended up chatting late into the night.

From then on, they would exchange smiles and waves from their balconies as Italy’s lockdown wore on.

In addition to getting to know each other through phone calls and social media, Paola woke up one morning to see her name written in big letters on a bedsheet hanging from Michele’s balcony.

When Italy eased its restrictions on 4 May, the pair wasted little time in meeting in person, “kissing like teenagers” in the park, according to Paola.

After their lockdown romance and a summer spent in each other’s company, Michele and Paola have got engaged and where will the couple get married? They are considering a wedding ceremony on Paola’s rooftop terrace, where it all began.