When I saw this padlock (Vorhängeschloss) on the Porcellino statue in Florence, I didn’t understand it. Now I think I have found the solution: love padlocks.

Apparently 5,500 were removed from the statue of Benvenuto Cellino on the Ponte Vecchio in the winter of 2005-6.

One is supposed to stroke the boar statue if one wants to come back to Florence. I did that. But then I have never stroked the ring on the Schöner Brunnen in Nuremberg, and I keep finding myself back there, so maybe the chances are slim.