Verona

We chose Verona because of the Opera festival at the ancient Roman Arena which holds 15000 people with incredible acoustics. The arena was originally built for gladiator “sport”, was built before the Colosseum in Rome and is in much better condition because it has been actively used for centuries since the Venetian era as an event venue, shopping centre and other.
We went to the open air opera “Carmen” which started at 9pm and ended at 1am! The environment made for an informal affair - not the usual formality of an opera but the audience was very quiet during the performance. The stage is enormous and at one point there must have been over 200 performers on stage, horses and carriages too! So it made for a colourful show and a large choir. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Verona is also a lovely city to visit with 3 distinctive eras visible, each with a city wall depicting the boundary as the city extended from the Roman era to medieval and then Venetian period.
We did a guided cycle tour to see the city, the 3 city walls, the churches influenced by each period and the river. The Roman bridge was destroyed and completely rebuilt with same stones by the local inhabitants.
What was interesting was learning about the local history and the power of the rich families. They had no royalty and all the castles, palaces and forts were built by these families to protect their patch. So the story behind Romeo and Juliette is true. Italy was only unified as a country of 20 regions in the 1800’s so there is strong rivalry.
The street markets, restaurants on the narrow streets and Piazzas continue to create “wow” moments and the food wasn’t bad either (it is Italy). We also found a new Aperatif, the “Hugo” which you will need to visit us to taste as I will be making it.
Sadly, the main attraction is people coming to see “Juliette’s house and statue” which was a bit tacky but …

Another great visit!Read more