After the madness that was Venice, we traveled west to Verona. Made famous by Romeo and Juliet, it definitely is more than just a fictional backdrop of love (although that’s there too). We stayed a 15-minute bus ride outside of the town center, in an apartment with a kitchen. We took full advantage of that and a cheap market nearby to cook some great Italian meals; prosciutto and salami were cheap, fresh tortellini was 69 cents, a full bottle of oil and bottle balsamic vinegar was 4 Euros together, and a bottle of good red wine was about 2 Euros (a big contrast from Venice).
Verona is an exceptionally pretty city set below rolling hills and surrounded by a curving river. It is a combination of ancient Roman ruins, yellow, orange, and red colored Italian buildings with red-tiled roofs, beautiful churches, and sculptures from many periods. We purchased the Verona Card (we got these tourists cards for many of the cities we visited, they make site-seeing more convenient and affordable) and saw all but one site included on it.
The main square of Verona, the Pizza Bra, is dominated by this Roman Arena, the third largest Arena built by the Romans. It is really well preserved and today it is used for Operas. It would be pretty cool to see an Opera outdoors in an old Roman Arena.
Nearby is the Castelvecchio, an old castle that houses a museum of medieval and renaissance art. It is made almost entirely of brick and includes a really interesting bridge.
Continuing on was another square, the statue in the foreground is of Dante. We got the top of the Torre dei Lamberti (it actually had an elevator, which is awesome when you’re walking for miles everyday) and got the following view of the city:
We then proceeded to see the sites of Romeo and Juliet, which is pretty bizarre since they are fictional characters. There are several sights in Verona that Shakespeare supposedly got his inspiration from. Here Juliet, played by Megan, stands on her balcony as hoards of tourist look on from below. We also saw “Romeo’s House” and “Julet’s Tomb”, both quite lame.
Across the river to the east is a Roman Amphitheater. Originally it was quite an impressive structure that continued up the hill with a monumental building at the top. Now the remnants of the Amphitheater remain, but a monastery and 18th century Palace now sit above. The monastery houses ancient Roman sculptures, mosaics, and artifacts.
The Verona Card also included the four major churches of the city, which we have too many pictures of to cram into our blog. This is the interior of the Basilica di San Zeno, which we thought was quite nice. Behind this view are a pair of these sculpted bronze doors:
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