'Cupidrone' brings Valentine's roses to Verona

VERONA, Italy, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A Netherlands-based flower company took its "Cupidrone" to Verona, Italy -- the home of Romeo and Juliet -- to bestow blooming gifts on amorous couples.

Funnyhowflowersdothat.co.uk, a consumer brand of the Flower Council of Holland, created a YouTube video under the guidance of Amsterdam agency Kingsday featuring the Cupidrone dropping roses on real-life couples.

Creative director Bram de Rooij said the couples in the video were real, but they were secretly warned by runners ahead of time to ensure the video would capture positive reactions.

"We did this because of safety: a drone near people is not the safest thing in the world. And otherwise people would simply look scared in the first place," Rooij told Fast Company.

The film crew made sure to visit one of the most famous settings from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

"We were filming in the courtyard of Juliet's balcony really early so that we'd have the place to ourselves. We had to apologize to the people who also arrived early to enjoy the same romantic spot but instead found a film set full of people shouting at a noisy drone! But they all wanted to participate. I think we used about half of the couples we filmed. And, because it's Italy, they all looked fantastic," Rooij said.