Verona, Italy - Our temporary home

Dear Family and Friends,

We arrived in Verona in the early evening.  After we got a taxi at the train station, found our apartment and got settled in, we were all exhausted.  

After a good nights sleep, we went out to explore our surroundings in daylight.  Our apartment was in a perfect location in the old part of the city.  Our first place to visit was a short walk to Piazza Bra, the biggest and main plaza in Verona.  

The plaza was huge.  It contained a large park in the middle and at one end was the well preserved, Roman amphitheater. It was built in 290AD and is in use today, home of the Verona Opera Festival, one of Europe's major summer music events. 

Along the side of the plaza were restaurants that provide wonderful outdoor dining.  

We chose a restaurant and enjoyed our first meal in Italy.  This is a photo of Audrey's pizza topped with fresh buffalo mozzarella and arugula.  By the way, we learned that the buffalo mozzarella is really made from water buffalo milk.

That afternoon, we made out way to a local supermarket to get supplies.  

This is Audrey and Jim passing in front of Porta Bosari, an ancient Roman gate.  It was located just outside our apartment and we passed by or through it on a daily basis.

We completed the first day by taking the Hop on, Hop off bus tour of the city.  A good way to get oriented.

During the time we were in Verona, we used it to take several day trips to other places.  We picked Verona because it is a train hub for that part of northern Italy and made taking these trips very convenient. I will share about our day trips in other posts.

For this post I am sharing some of the things we saw during our time in Verona.

One day Chuck and I walked to Castelvecchio, the old castle.  It was built in 1354-55 as a defense fortress.  It is located on the Adige river, which separates old and new Verona.

Behind the castle is Ponte Scaligero, a 14th century bridge. Today, it is only used as a pedestrian bridge. As we walked over it we got great views of the river and city.

Next to the old castle is the Arco del Gavi, an old Roman arch. This first century arch once spanned a road, but has since been moved to its present location.

Another favorite and frequently visited plaza was Piazza delle Erbe.  It is several blocks in length and contains a vegetable market, tourist shopping market and also lined with restaurants featuring outdoor seating.

One day Chuck and I had lunch at one of the restaurants featuring some strange typical Verona offerings.

Chuck chose his meal from the horse and donkey specialties.   He chose donkey stew which was served over pasta.

Lucky for me, they offered many other things on the menu.

Verona is perhaps best known internationally as the setting for Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.  

Because so many visitors to Verona wanted to know where Juliet lived, the city decided to build a balcony in a courtyard just off Piazza delle Erbe.  

It seems odd to me that most of the tourism in Verona is to a site that never really existed.  Tourists were always there in such numbers that Chuck and I waited until sundown one evening so we could get a glimpse.

The balcony, we were told, is an old sarcophagus. In the courtyard under the balcony is a bronze statue of Juliet.   

The wall beside her is filled with letters to her.

Even though Romeo and Juliet never existed, people flock to see a made up courtyard. We were told that Verona hires a team of secretaries to answer these letters. Why not?  The tourists bring a lot of revenue into the city.

We really loved Verona.  It is a beautiful city with many wonderful things to see.  

The next posts will be about our day trips out of Verona.

Love,
Nancy