My first visit to the home of the famous lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Verona was the setting for Shakespare's tragic love story. The city is diverse with Roman ruins, Renaissance palaces, ancient churches and beautiful piazzas to sit by and people-watch. It's such a beautiful city with centuries of history witnessed by its architecture and artistic masterpieces left behind. I have been to Verona at at least 3 times now.
Verona lies in the north-eastern of Italy in the Veneto region. Situated perfectly with great links to the region's capital, Venice. You can easily travel to
Venice(trains there less than an hour and a half) for the day and have Verona as your base. I have also passed through Verona to go to Lake Garda. Read here for my
mini guide to Lake Garda, having visited the Dolomites, Malcesine, Desenzano, Simione and Milan.
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| Piazza Bra |
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| Roman Arena |
The city still has traces of Austrian influences throughout the city. You have Piazza Bra sitting inside the main gates into Verona lined with wonderful cafes, restaurants and colourful little buildings. Being in the square you also wont fail to miss the Arena, a beautifully conserved Roman amphitheatre. Not as big as the Colosseum but still an impressive structure. Built in first AD it is still standing and holds 22,000 spectators when the opera season takes place in the summer months. Operas, ballet and symphonies take place through out the year but summer is when the main opera festival takes place and off course you can watch Romeo and Juliet here among Aida, Carmen and other popular operas set beneath the moonlight in the Arena.
Walking through the piazza you then come to Piazza Erbe, Piazza dei Signori, Via Cappell, Teatro Romano, Castlevecchio and other wonderful treasures.
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| Piazza Erbe and Torre dei Lamberti |
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| Views from Torre dei Lamberti |
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| Stike a pose! |
Just off Piazza Erbe you will come face to face with Torre dei Lamberti, Tower of Lambert. Having gone with a sister on this occasion who doesn't like anything to do with heights it took some convincing to get her to come up to the top with me. Here you get to see Verona's most famous views 84 meters from the ground. You can peer at Italy's finest gardens and fantastic panorama view of the city.
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| Casa Gulietta - You can also find Juliet's balcony and statue - people rub her left breast for goodluck(weird!) |
You cannot visit any Italian city without making a trip to at least one of the many churches in Italy. We accidentally stumbled on to St Anastasia, one of the largest churches in Verona. A red brick building with an understated entrance, a majestic apse and high bell tower. The inside is divided into 3 aisles with beautiful and intricately detailed paintings. The holywater on the font are quiet interesting in that they are supported by two hunchbacks. The whole church represents some of Verona's famous painters.
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| Inside St Anastasia |
Visiting any part of Italy sampling the food also comes without question. My sister and I sampled away from piazza to piazza.
You would certainly need a few days to appreciate the Verona's picturesque and medieval center with its beautiful squares, towers, basilicas, museums and ruins. Hence why I have passed through it a few times.
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| The Verona Roman Theater and Archeology Museum in the background are across the river from Verona's historic center. The Roman Theater dates from the 1st century. |
So have you been to Juliet's house yet? What are your thoughts of the city?
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Visiting Italy, Short breaks in italy, a weekend in italy, Verona, Juliet's house, italy by train. A weekend in Verona,
I spent one day there. Stayed in a place just walking distance to Casa Di Giulietta. I went first to Juliet's House--there wasn't so many people at that time--then spent the rest of the day just walking around. Loved Verona!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a beautiful city.
ReplyDelete