Walking Around...

For many visitors their main reason for visiting Verona is to experience an opera or concert under open skies in the vast Arena and this certainly a rare pleasure and not to be missed. However, the city offers much more, even without the famous balcony reputed to be the scene of Romeo and Juliet’s famous encounter.
The Roman legacy can be savoured at the much smaller Teatro Romano just across the river and the archaeological museum next door. As you walk around town you will see plenty of other remains such as the fine Arco dei Gavi and the Porta dei Borsari.

The old market square, the Piazza d’Erbe is the real centre of town and nearby is the Piazza di Signori lined with Scaglieri palaces and forever under the contemplation of Dante’s statue.
If you are lucky you might find that there is an exhibition going on in the Scavi Scaglieri vaults below the Cortile del Tribunale where art is regularly hung amidst the carefully revealed Roman structure of the city. There are many particularly fine religious buildings in the city especially the Romanesque church of San Zeno with its beautiful carved facade, the richly decorated church of Sant’Anastasia and of course the Duomo as well as many more important churches like San Fermo Maggiore.
The Castelvecchio just to the west of the town centre also houses an impressive art gallery within its spectacular walls and the surrounding area, including the defensive bridge next to the castle and the riverside, is a popular place to walk. One of my favourite places however, is the Giardino Giusti, one of Italy’s finest gardens hidden away amongst the dusty facades on the east side of the river.

Verona is another city founded by the Etruscans but brought to prominence under the Romans and this was the place where Caesar would go to relax. Its historical importance can be seen straight away in the wealth of impressive architecture and in particular the vast first century Arena, the third largest in the world and seating up to 25,000 which used to represent the entire population of the city. Much smaller, but in a beautiful setting overlooking the River Adige, lies the 1st century BC Teatro Romano now fully excavated but once filled in and covered with houses.

Long after the departure of the Romans, Verona continued to build fine buildings especially the great Romanesque church of San Zeno which was begun in 1123, the huge church of Sant’Anastasia, next door to the hotel, and the Duomo which was begun in 1139.

The city struggled under rival factions until 1263 when the Scaglieri family began a long period of rule bringing stability and encouraging the arts, inviting Dante to be their guest in the city from 1301 to 1304 while also commissioning many more fine buildings. The Visconti of Milan took control towards the end of the 14th century followed by Venice, France and Austria which all had turns of possession until unification in 1866.
Its World Heritage status and the richness of its architecture means that Verona is always popular with tourists but it is also a centre of commerce and an important city for conferences.