Verona is a beautiful city that is well worth a visit, if only for the large number of interesting monumental buildings. In addition, it is also a pleasant, pleasant city. From our holiday address in Rumo, in the north of Italy, we would therefore like to spend a day in Verona, which is located in the Veneto region. Lake Garda can also be quickly reached from there. We take a day off and go out in the car. We actually wanted to attend an opera in the Colosseum, where there are often atmospheric performances in the summer months, but the journey there is a bit too long for that. We wouldn’t be back until four in the morning, so we’ll visit the city alone today. The rest will probably come later.
Many vineyards along the road to Verona
While our own Val di Non has apple orchards as far as the eye can see, the road from Trento to Verona is dotted with vineyards on the left and right. As far as the eye can see, the fields and slopes are full of grape vines that, often tied diagonally to protect the grapes from the too bright sun, hang at the bottom with countless small and very green bunches of grapes. That should certainly produce a good harvest this year.
Close to Verona the landscape changes
Closer to Verona the landscape slowly changes. The mountains recede and we now see not only grape vines, but also orchards with peach trees and plum trees. There are pear trees here and there. We also see more cypresses and pine trees. It is also a lot warmer here than in the mountain country that now lies behind us. Industry is also advancing here and this does not always make the views more beautiful.
Pine trees and cypresses
There are more pine trees and cypresses in this region than in the Val di Non. We eat our sandwiches under a shady edge of pine trees. That’s a good thing, because a little later we drive through the urbanized area and the opportunity to have a nice meal in the shade is lost for the time being.
Actually too hot for a viewing
In the city we see on the navigator that it is already 36 degrees outside. Actually a bit too hot to visit a city, but now that we are here, we will continue. We park the car in a parking garage near the center and walk along a section of the heavy, dark red city wall that remains of the old city wall, to the Colosseum.
The Colosseum of Verona
Once we pass the dark city wall, we immediately see the almost 2,000 year old Colosseum, which was built by the Romans. This arena looks less depressing than the Colosseum in Rome. The creative use of the local pink sandstone alone gives the building a positive impression, although terrible scenes must have taken place here in Roman times too. From the 15th century onwards, the mayors had the building well maintained by conservators, so it is still intact and is still used for opera performances.
Beautiful performances here in the Colosseum of Verona
There is another performance tonight. The set pieces for this are already delivered in large trucks and are located in front of the company entrance. This time the opera of Romeo and Juliet is performed. We’re looking forward to it, so let’s see what the tickets cost and how long the performance lasts. That is disappointing. The cheapest tickets cost nineteen euros for a seat in the highest stand.
Anyone who wants to experience that should look for a room nearby
That would still be possible, but the performance starts at nine o’clock and lasts until one o’clock. However, we still have to drive back to our holiday address for at least another two hours. We won’t be home until after three o’clock at night and we don’t want to do that to our host or ourselves. Anyone who wants to attend a performance here must actually have accommodation in or near Verona. We therefore decide not to take tickets, but to come back for this one day. Instead, we want to leisurely drive back along Lake Garda tonight.
A walk through the city of Verona
Verona is intersected by the heavily meandering River Adige. For centuries, the supply and removal of trade goods via this river ensured the prosperity of the city and not only that! It also served to defend the city, as it was a natural obstacle to conquering the Castelvecchio, the ancient fortress of the Scaligeri from the 14th century. We start our tour from the irregular, but pleasantly large square in front of the arena (the Piazza Brà). Here we take some photos and then walk through the beautiful shopping street Via Giuseppe Mazinni and past the Palazzo della Regione (the Palace of Reason) to the Piazza dei Signori (the Gentlemen’s Square).
An important Italian family
The square square is surrounded by palaces of the Scaligeri, a family that ruled the city for more than a hundred years around the 14th century. In the middle of the square is a statue of the great Italian poet Dante, who lived at the same time and whose image is frequently photographed by the tourists present.
The tombs of the Scaligeri’s are really prominent here
When we leave the square under an arch, we immediately see the remarkable Scaligeri tombs above us. These tombs, built in Gothic style, are unique in their design. We’ve never seen anything like this in the middle of a city. The stately graves are a tribute to the family that ruled the city for so long and brought it to prosperity. Under the grave of one of them, Cangrande the first, we find the entrance to a Romanesque church from the 7th century, which is unfortunately closed due to restoration work. The church was once the family church of the Scaligeris.
The beautiful old churches of Verona
All churches in Verona are worth seeing, but almost everywhere there is an entrance fee. On the one hand, I can imagine the enormous costs involved in maintaining so many monuments, but on the other hand, I wonder how Christ would decide about this if he came back to earth. The Bible contains Jesus’ statement: Come to me, all of you, and he did not say that a visit to his house also had to be paid for. It’s a bit of a hassle, but nowadays many important churches already require an entrance fee, so it doesn’t bother me.
The cathedral
Many medieval houses, churches and palaces here are built from beautiful pink sandstone from the surrounding regions, as we saw at the Colosseum. We walk through the center through narrow streets. The Cathedral of Verona, the Duomo Santa Maria Matricolare, is mainly Romanesque in construction, but also has Gothic features. It is a beautiful cathedral, but you also have to pay some entrance fee. The cathedral is definitely worth a visit and has a beautiful marble baptismal font from 1200 with Biblical scenes. The Cathedral is located on a site where other churches have stood before. That is why there are also excavations to be seen in the church. The detached Campanile (tower) dates from the 16th century. In Italy, church towers are often separate from the church.
The banks of the Adige
From the Cathedral we walk to the banks of the Adige and photograph the church on the hill on the other side. It is the Signora di Lourdes. We would have liked to visit her, but we simply cannot see everything in one day. The bastion on the other side is also included in the photo. However, it is very hot and we are thirsty. At the first bridge we come across (at the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi) we leave the banks of the Adige and dive into a lovely cool covered terrace, where a nice landlady gives us an ice-cold drink. However, the toilet here remains unused, because it is another case of a hole in the ground with two places to put your feet. We’ll look for something else.
Piazza Erbe
We walk at a leisurely pace to the Piazza Erbe, a square that has been used as a market square for 2000 years and where we discover a beautifully painted facade. The Venetian lion of San Marco also stands on a huge column here as a reminder of the years of Venetian rule. The beautiful fountain in the middle dates from the 14th century.
Nice shopping
Via the beautiful, long shopping street with often sublime fashion shops in shoes, clothing and jewelry, we walk back to Piazza Brà, where, exhausted by the heat, we collapse on a terrace. We have a nice cold drink, a large piece of pizza and a tasty, thick Italian ice cream. After this we have recovered somewhat and get up to take a look at the famous old Ponte Scaligero over the Adige, because we must see it before we drive back.
We will definitely go back to Verona
A day only has a certain number of hours and we actually wanted to see the beautiful old Baroque garden that is located in one of the suburbs and which, judging from our information, is often used by the citizenry of Verona to take breaks and relax. to have lunch in the afternoon. However, when we get there it is already ten to six. The garden closes at six o’clock and apparently an entrance fee of six euros still has to be paid, so we leave the garden alone. We also missed Romeo and Juliet’s balcony. We would also have liked to visit the archaeological museum. There are a number of other important points. So Verona will definitely see us again, but it is better to do so in the spring or autumn when it is not so terribly hot.
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