Italy, the home of Romeo and Juliet, now offers another saga of star-crossed love — with a decidedly religious twist.

From the London Telegraph:

An Italian man whose girlfriend left him to become a nun is holding a vigil outside the convent where she is staying in a bid to get her to reconsider.

Heartbroken Daniel Briatore, 21, has vowed to remain camped outside the convent in a bid to win back the love of his life Patrizia Masoero, also 21, after she dumped him a month ago to take religious vows.

He travelled the 300 miles from their hometown of Alassio on the Italian Riviera to the Franciscan convent at Montecassino Abbey, south of Rome.

When Patrizia refused to see him he put up a banner on the convent walls reading:”I didn’t want to take you away, just talk to you, because I love you”.

The nuns immediately took the banner down but Daniel has said he will do “whatever it takes” to get her back, boosted by local villagers who are all said to be backing him.

Last night Italian media reports said the two had known each other since they were teenagers and had been together for several years until Patrizia told her family she was leaving Daniel to become a nun.

A nun who answered the telephone at the convent said:”Our sister has chosen the path she wants, there is no point in him staying here.

“At the moment she isn’t even here, she is in Rome on a pilgrimage with her fellow sisters and is due back here at the convent this weekend – we just want all this attention to go away.

“We took the banner down but now the whole place is swarming with TV crews and photographers when I tried to leave the convent it was impossible because i had microphones and cameras pushed into me.”