VERONA

City Map

Verona is nowadays the second city in Veneto for its liveliness and for the importance of its economic activities; moreover it is an international tourist centre. Verona is crossed by the Adige river, an it has more than 250.000 inhabitants. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, owing to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows, and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphitheatre built by the Romans.

L’ARENA DI VERONA

The Arena of Verona was built during the first century AC by the Roman Empire and now it is situated in Piazza Bra. Today, it is the amphitheater in the best conditions in Italy

We don’t know very much about its history but surely, in 69 BC, it had already be built. In the past it was used for fights between gladiators and tigers. Today, in the Arena, a lot of shows take place (i.e. music performances).

SQUARES IN VERONA

Piazza delle erbe Piazza delle Erbe was once the town's forum during the time of the Roman Empire.

Piazza dei Signori Built in the middle ages, it’s called also Piazza Dante, because of the Dante’s statue.

Piazza Bra Piazza San Zeno

The piazza is lined with numerous cafés and restaurants, along with several notable buildings. The Verona Arena, originally an amphitheater built nearly 2000 years ago, is now a world-famous music venue with regular operatic and contemporary music performances. Verona's town hall, the Palazzo Barbieri, also looks out across the piazza. It’s claimed to be the largest in Italy

It is a square situated in the district that has the same name. In the Roman period it was the meeting place of important roads connecting the city to Milan and Brescia. In this square there was the largest necropolis of the city with numerous graves.

Porta Nuova It is an ancient Roman gate in Verona.

In the Middle Ages it was called Porta di San Zeno, while the current name derives from the guard soldiers which were paid the dazio (Latin bursarii).

Porta Borsari It is a monumental gate in Verona, built

between 1532 and 1540. It was built buy the architect Michele Sanmicheli, it was considered positive by Vasari, a famous painter and architect.

Porta Palio

It is a monumental gate built between 1550 and 1561 by the architect Michele Sanmicheli. This gate is the most considerable monument born by the research on the Renaissance theme of the triumph in the door loca and it is the most extreme architectural manifestation of the policy of arming et decorate.

Porta Vescovo

It is a gate built in the Scaligero period and was rebuilt in the XVI century and after in the XIX century by the austrian domination. It is in the east on the road to Venice. It devides Borgo Venezia from Veronetta.

CASA DI ROMEO E GIULIETTA

The story of the Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love is set in Juliet's house.

The Capulet House, best known as "Juliet's House", dates back to the thirteenth century. It is tower-shaped and belonged to the “Dal Cappello” or “Cappelletti” family, whose coat-of-arms is visible above the inner arch-way of the court-yard. The brick front, renovated in the last century, is decorated by elegant gothic windows . There you can see also the balcony where Romeo promised his beloved Juliet eternal love in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

At the far end of the courtyard stands Nereo Costantini's bronze statue of Juliet visited by thousands of tourists every year from all over the world. The interior of the house can be visited and you can stand on Juliet’s balcony and re-live the “high-light” of the earthly life.

The present appearance of the house and of the adjacent building was modified between 1937 to 1940 (under the direction of Antonio Avena).

The two families named Montecchi and Capuleti are really existed. The Montecchi, important merchants in Verona, were involved in bloody battles for the control of Verona, in particular with the family of Sambonifacio, but there are no reports of rivalry with Cappelletti. Montecchi and Cappelletti are also mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy (Purgatory, v. VI. 105-107).