What's the deal with the pad locks on the bridge in Sforezco Park?

Question

In Sforezco Park, behind the Castle, in Milan, there is a small bridge that spans over a small pond. On the bridge there are several huge knots made up of pad locks. Does anyone know the meaning or symbolism behind them?

Answer 1

You see this in a lot of places here - it's a declaration of love that derived from a book & movie (Ho Voglia di Te - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0877522/). You write your names on the lock, lock it, and throw the key into the water. There's an article from the International Herald Tribune that explains this in more detail here (related to the bridge in Rome): http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/05/a...

You can find several versions of the same article with different photos: e.g., http://www.1millionlovemessages.com/2008...