Unmissable Excursions: VÉRONE
While strolling around the streets, each step taken will leave the visitor enchanted by the unexpected blend of sights which date back to different historic periods: traces of magnificent Roman origins, the distinct signs of medieval times and its Scaligeri horsemen, its splendid Renaissance palaces together with the striking fortresses which protect it. A blend of grandeur which is both fascinating and enchanting any time of year.
If you make your way from the Porta Nuova to the Portoni della Bra you will feel immersed in art and history, Verona is a city with invaluable treasures, and it is bursting to tell its history. In Italy, Verona is considered to be second only to Rome in importance due to the presence of such well-preserved ruins.
What’s more….. during the walk the attentive visitor cannot help noticing the inscriptions, gravestones, antique tombstones, decorated lintels and parts of Roman statues, which originate from the antique forum, such as the Madonna Verona Statue in the antique and vibrant Piazza Erbe.
ARENA: Verona’s amphitheatre is the most famous monument and most important sight to see for those visiting the city. Approach it quietly and you can easily imagine it filled with people just as it was in Roman times; just close your eyes or simply enjoy the stirring atmosphere that only evenings dedicated to opera and theatre performances can create. The emotion felt on seeing the most magnificent and living jewel of Verona is just the same today, with its operas and theatre productions, as it was 2,000 years ago with its bloody battles of times gone by.
It was built in the first half of the 1st century AD, in the period which marked the end of the Augustus’s reign and the beginning of that of Claudius. It is the third largest amphitheatre in Italy after Rome’s Colosseum and the amphitheatre of Capua. Its elliptical shape produces perfect acoustics from any stand point and allows it to accommodate a large number of spectators. In its “platea” and “cavea” the amphitheatre could contain some 30,000 people.
Beneath the stalls there are a series of galleries, not open to visitors, which have always been used for the complicated functioning of the amphitheatre.
GIULIETTA E ROMEO: “No life exists beyond the walls of Verona”: the pen of Shakespeare has lent Verona immortality with the tragic tale of the two young lovers Romeo Montecchi and Giulietta Capuleti. The tragic love story is set in two distinct places, the house of Juiliet and the tomb.
CASA CAPULETI, best known as the house of Juliet, dates back to the 13th Century. It is a tower-shaped house, with an open-brick façade decorated with elegant trilobated windows, from one of which protrudes the famous balcony where Juliet is said to have appeared to speak with Romeo. Today visitors may admire the refined elegance of the frescoes within, which stand out for their simplicity, inlaid wooden chests, brick fireplaces, wooden stairs with balustrades and paths. At the far end of the courtyard stands the bronze statue of Juliet by the sculptor Nereo Costantini, which is visited every year by thousands of tourists from all over the world.
The "CASA DI ROMEO" stands in via Arche Scaligere. It is an authentic medieval building which belonged to the Trecentesca family of the counts of Cagnolo Nogarola, who were part of the Scala family entourage. The portico is gothic and the courtyard is enclosed by crenellated walls. The interior cannot be visited but the adjacent restaurant contains some of its rooms. The house is said to have been the lodgings of the Montechhi family. The façade bears an inscription with the famous words of the story of Romeo and Juliet: Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?..”Tut! I have lost myself; I am not here: This is not Romeo, he’s some other where.” (Act 1, scene 1).
