Verona is a city with incredible history and multiple claims to fame. Shakespeare’s most famous play, Romeo and Juliet, is set in Verona. The city has l’Arena, which is one of the best-preserved ancient Roman structures in the world and is now world-famous for its unique opera experience. And the famous poet Dante spent time in Verona after being exiled from his home in Florence.
The city of Verona
Prior to my time in Milan, I spent six weeks in Verona as part of a summer study abroad program, and I absolutely love this city. It’s small enough to be manageable and you can become familiar with it fairly quickly, but it’s big enough to have plenty to do and see, and it has great culture and restaurants.
The fact that Shakespeare chose to set his story of Romeo and Juliet (Romeo e Giulietta in Italian) in Verona leads to a large influx of tourists searching for inspiration and eternal love, and one of the places they look is near a balcony purported to be Juliet’s. Below the balcony is a statue of Juliet, and many people rub one of the statue’s breasts for luck (why, I don’t know).
Juliet’s (supposed) balcony, with her statue in the lower left corner
L’Arena is a large coliseum-type building dating from AD 30 in Roman times. The structure is remarkably well-preserved. The acoustics of Verona’s Arena are so good that the site now hosts a world-famous opera season providing a very unique opera-viewing experience. I’m not much of an opera fan, but I’ve seen two performances in the Arena and it is an incredible experience. The opera season is during the summer. If you want to see a performance, ticket prices for the stone seats are significantly cheaper than seats on the floor (and you can rent cushions). Candles are handed out and lit as the sun sets, so you are watching an opera in an ancient Roman Arena by candlelight. Pretty cool.
L‘Arena in Verona
Watching an opera by candlelight
The poet Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, spent time in Verona after being exiled from his home in Florence, and there is a statue in Piazza Dante paying tribute to him.
Piazza Dante in Verona
Notice the V-shaped columns on the tops of the buildings. These can be found all over the city and are the hallmark of the Scaligeri (or della Scala) family, which ruled over Verona from the 1200s to the 1400s.
If you haven’t been to Verona before, I would definitely recommend going to see and learn about the great history this city has.
