Romantic road sign in Portici mandates stopping to kiss

The original mandatory sign appeared in the picturesque town of Portici in southern Italy. On the initiative of two council members, a blue sign resembling a road sign was placed in a seaside park. It mandates stopping and... kissing.

Located at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, Portici is a charming town in the Campania region, in the province of Naples, inhabited by nearly 59,000 people.

The idea for this interesting sign in a spot overlooking the Bay of Naples came from councillors Dario Formicola and Maria Rosaria Cirillo.

On a blue background is white lettering - "Portici, romantic town". That's not all. Under the white arrow is a mandate: "Stop to kiss". The round sign also features drawings of lips and hearts.

Also read: Visitors to the Italian town are overdoing it. "It's immature, disrespectful and silly"

"This idea was born when one evening I stopped to look at the sunset on our wonderful seaside promenade, which had just been opened. I thought: a nice road sign would be useful here," said Formicola. He recalled that the landscape of Portici also inspired painters to create their works.

The man shared his idea with a colleague from the city council. They developed an official proposal to set up the sign and formally presented it to the mayor and the head of the traffic department at the Portici city hall.

Their idea was met with positive reception from the authorities. Florinda Verde, head of the city's environmental protection and quality of life office, also supported the proposal. "In this way, we emphasised the romantic aspect, which has always distinguished our sea and our panorama," Dario Formicola summarized.