It was raining when we took off to visit Verona. It looked like we may get a couple of dry hours mixed in with scattered showers. The city came under Roman rule in 300 BC and there are still Roman buildings in use today.
The arena as it called was built in 30 AD and is the third largest in Italy. The facade you see today is the interior structure. Originally there was a taller outer wall around it. There is only a small remnant of the outer wall remaining today. The interior is the best preserved in Italy and hosts concerts and other events on a regular basis.
Our next stop was the Ponte Catelvecchio a 14th century bridge. It is not an elegant bridge but looks powerful and utilitarian. The bridge today is a reconstruction of the original bridge which was destroyed by the Germans at the very end of WWII.
The bridge is tied into the palace of the ruler of Verona at the time. It is said to have been built and fortified to allow the rulers to have a back way out of the city in case of rebellion.
As the day wore on the weather slowly began to improve from steady light rain, to mostly cloudy with just a few very light showers. Verona is another beautiful Italian city with nice squares and interesting buildings from many different eras.
Despite the bad weather and it being shoulder season the town was pretty crowded with multiple tour groups. Verona is not a particularly famous Italian city but still draws a lot of people.
Verona is most famous as the setting of two of Shakespeare’s plays. Probably his most famous play is Romeo and Juliet which takes place in Verona. While there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever visited Verona the story of a tragic couple caught between feuding families had been a subject of a poem by an Italian that was translated into English. That is probably the basis for the play.
While the two families in the play had an on going feud for decades in real life there is no evidence that there was a Romeo or a Juliet in the families. However, given the popularity of the play there is now a home referred to as Juliet’s complete with a balcony replicating the famous scene in the play. It was the most crowded place in the city.
We tried to stay off the main shopping streets. When we are in a town that is teeming with other tourists we often look for streets going in the same direction but a block or two over. A lot of time these streets are more interesting to us as the stores on these streets tend to cater to local needs and are more interesting.
There was one more bridge on our stop the Ponte Pietra is a Roman bridge built around 100 AD. It is not a spectacular bridge but a typical Roman bridge on a major road. It was also destroyed at the end of WWII but rebuilt after the war using the original materials.
Having put in a good amount of exercise taking in the sites we decided to reward ourselves with a lunch. We went to a restaurant recommended by the campground that served typical local food. Ton asked the waiter for a recommendation and he replied that the region was famous for Donkey Stew and theirs was excellent. Ton made an incredible face that I thought was hilarious but took the waiter off guard as he was being serious. After I laughed at her reaction he starting laughing and said the face you made was incredible, I will not forget it. Ton opted for another local specialty duck pasta. I had a beef stew with excellent polenta as I also could not bring myself to try the Donkey stew. We also discovered a local red wine that we really liked called Bardolino.
After lunch it was raining again so we decided to head back for the night. But first we stopped in at a local grocery for some bread and a bottle of Bardolino.