Is Verona worth visiting? The city that answers this question with physical evidence: a Roman amphitheater from the 1st century AD that still hosts summer opera performances to 22,000 people, a medieval center with one of the finest pedestrian streetscapes in northern Italy, San Zeno Maggiore (arguably the most beautiful Romanesque church in the Veneto), and the Valpolicella wine zone immediately north, which produces Amarone, one of Italy's three or four greatest red wines. The Romeo and Juliet story is a bonus for some visitors and an embarrassment for others. It has nothing to do with the quality of the city. Yes, Verona is worth visiting. The question is how to see it correctly.
How do you want to see it?
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The Arena di Verona
The Arena di Verona is the third-largest surviving Roman amphitheater (after the Colosseum and the Capua amphitheater), built in the 1st century AD and capable of seating approximately 30,000 in antiquity. Today it seats 22,000 for the summer opera festival (Arena di Verona Opera Festival, late June to early September), one of the world's great outdoor opera experiences, with productions staged among the original Roman stonework under the Veronese sky. Visiting the arena outside the opera season: €10, open daily. The interior shows the scale of Roman civic architecture with immediacy that museums can't replicate. The view from the upper tiers over Piazza Bra (the large square surrounding the arena) and toward the medieval city is excellent.
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The Medieval City
Verona's medieval center isn't a single monument but a sustained urban experience. Piazza delle Erbe (the Roman forum, still a market, surrounded by medieval and Renaissance palaces), Piazza dei Signori (the civic power piazza with the Scaligeri tombs, extraordinary Gothic funerary monuments of the ruling della Scala family), the Arche Scaligere (the family tombs, elaborately canopied in Gothic stone, among the finest medieval funerary monuments in northern Italy, free to view from the surrounding streets, small fee to enter), and the medieval streets connecting them. The Castelvecchio (the Scaligeri castle, now a museum) has an important collection of Veronese and Venetian painting and is architecturally notable for its Carlo Scarpa renovation (1958-1964), one of the masterworks of Italian 20th-century museum design.
Questions: Is Verona Worth Visiting?
Is Verona better than Venice for a day trip?
Different in character. Venice is unique on earth.Verona is the finest Italian city in northern Italy after Venice (and ahead of Padova, Vicenza, and Treviso in most travelers' rankings). Venice for water and Byzantine-Gothic architecture. Verona for Roman heritage, opera, and wine. Both are correct choices, the question is what you're optimizing for.
How do I get to Verona?
Verona Porta Nuova station is on the main Milan-Venice rail line. From Milan: 1h10 by Frecciarossa, €15-30. From Venice: 1h15, €10-25. From Rome: 3h30 by Frecciarossa, €40-70. Verona Airport (Valerio Catullo) has flights from across Europe. The historic center is 20 minutes walk from the station or 5 minutes by bus.
What is the Romeo and Juliet connection to Verona?
Shakespeare set his play in Verona but never visited Italy. There is no historical Romeo or Juliet. Juliet's house (Casa di Giulietta, Via Cappello 23) is a medieval house that the city adopted as the "Juliet's house" in the 1930s, the balcony was added in 1936. The bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard (rubbing her breast for luck is a tradition that developed in the 20th century) has had to be replaced multiple times due to wear. This is all perfectly lovely nonsense that produces significant tourism revenue and embarrasses Veronesi who prefer that visitors notice the Roman amphitheater and the Romanesque churches. Both reactions are understandable.
What wine is Verona known for?
Verona is the capital of one of Italy's great wine zones. The Valpolicella hills immediately north produce: Valpolicella DOC (the everyday red, cherries and fresh fruit), Ripasso (Valpolicella refermented on the Amarone grape skins, richer, more structured), and Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG (made from partially dried grapes, one of Italy's three or four greatest wines, rich, powerful, 16%+ alcohol, 15-30 years of aging potential). The Soave zone east of Verona produces Soave Classico (Garganega grape, light, mineral white, historically important, recently much improved in quality). Drinking a glass of Amarone in Verona, in a bar on Piazza delle Erbe, or at a wine bar in the Valpolicella hills, is one of the most satisfying wine experiences available in Italy.
San Zeno Maggiore: The Church Nobody Mentions
The Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore in Verona (10 minutes walk from the Arena) is, by the consensus of Romanesque architecture specialists, the finest Romanesque church in the Veneto and one of the great Romanesque churches of Italy. The bronze door panels (12th century, biblical scenes and scenes from the life of San Zeno, the patron saint of Verona and of fishermen) are among the masterpieces of medieval metalwork. The interior has a raised choir above the crypt, painted columns, a ship's-keel wooden ceiling, and a Mantegna altarpiece (Madonna and Child, 1457-1460) that is one of the great paintings of the early Renaissance. Free to enter. Almost never crowded. Worth 45 minutes of serious attention. Vedi anche: Veneto · Vicenza · Padova.
