Couples visiting Assisi cannot fail to be entranced by the 'wall of love' painted by the ancient Roman elegiac poet Sextus Propertius in the domus that carries his name.
The wall featuring 96 birds of different species and vegetation with heart-shaped foliage is located in the cryptoporticus of the ancient building beneath the crypt of the church of Saint Mary Major and dates to the first century AD.
ANSA admired the wall close up with museum worker Beatrice Camilli ahead of Valentine's Day on Wednesday.
"It represents a viridarium, a sort of wide-open window onto a garden in which no fewer than 96 different birds are depicted amidst branches fluttering in the air, with leaves and flower petals in the shape of little hearts," said Camilli.
"It can certainly be called the wall of love, both because of the painted hearts and because of Propertius 'himself," she continued, referring to the Roman poet's serious love for the "Cynthia" of his poems by him.
Camilli pointed out that the painting also features three redlilies.
"Usually the white lily is associated with the Annunciation, but these red ones suggest that they were painted more on a love theme," said the expert.
However, she also remembered that, Propertius aside, the Romans had little time for romantic love.
"In ancient Rome love was not very sentimental and marriage was often a political affair," she said.
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