Verona, Italy

For my next stop I took another train ride over to Verona – under an hour on a non-stop train. 

There appears to be a trend in Verona to have “combination” museums with two things that are not necessarily connected.  So, you have the modern art museum and viewing tower in one package, the historic art and the old castle in another, and “Juliet’s tomb” and the fresco museum in another!

With a tower and a modern art museum in the same place this was obviously one of the first places that I visited.  The Torre dei Lamberti viewing tower had a lift that got you over half way up, but you still had some steps to climb, particularly to the higher of the two viewing levels.  As ever it was good to look out over the town, particularly as it was a sunny day.  It is also very odd to see snow-capped mountains so close when it is hot and sunny!

The "modern" art was mainly pre 1950, but included some interesting pieces of the town.  There was also a chapel painted very decoratively at the end of the galleries that you could also see.  There was a wedding about to take place in the chapel so it closed to the public soon after I saw it.  The bride and groom (and wedding guests) then had to walk through the gallery to access it for the wedding!

Whilst the is a visitor card for Verona which you can get for 24 or 48 hours (which didn't seem too bad in value compared to the cost of individual entry) the first Sunday of months outside summer give you access to a number of museums and other sites for €1 per visit.  Purely by coincidence that was the day that I was in Verona so I made good use of this.

One of the key places that I visited was the Roman amphitheatre in the centre of the city.  This is still in use today for operas and other shows, but is also open for visitors to look round.  Whilst there are some modern seats installed (at least there were when I visited - I think they are not there permanently) you can also have access to the Roman steps where people would have sat for thousands of years (with surprisingly little concern for health and safety).  The amphitheatre itself once had another outer ring of arches, but they were mainly dismantled back in time to build other buildings in the town so there are only a few left.  As one of only 4 in Italy this intact it was good to see.

There is also another Roman theatre site in Verona, but unfortunately it was closed when I was there.  Above it is another set of viewing terraces giving a different view of the town (this time in the rain!)

The Castleveccio is an impressive medieval edifice by the river (and old bridge crossing it).  You can explore a number of parts of it, and it also contains a sizeable museum, primarily dedicated to art but also with weaponry and other artefacts from the time.  For even older items the Lapidary museum had ancient Greek and Roman items, including the tablets of a will which set out the family memorials to be built and maintained, and how any surviving relatives would get an income!

Obviously Verona is linked to Shakespeare and a number of his plays, in particular Romeo and Juliet.  You can see "Juliet's house" (which was packed with people in the courtyard) and "Juliet's tomb".  Both of these have some link to the real people behind the story, but are not genuine venues (the balcony on Juliet's house is a more modern invention!). 

A more modern museum in Verona was the radio museum.  This had a fascinating collection of old radios in it, particularly from the 1930s and 1980s which were very different!  It is a bit of a hidden museum as for most of the time I was there I was the only person in it. 

You have to pay to get in the key churches in Verona, either individually, part of the Verona card, or a combined ticket just for the churches (which is what I took).  The most impressive was the San Fermo church but each had different points of interest. 

One odd thing about my time in Verona was buying some stamps to send postcards home.  I went to a Post Office, to make sure I got the right stamps (lots of markets sold stamps for a so called "guaranteed" delivery which by reports was nothing of the sort).  However the act of buying stamps appeared to cause great concern in the Post Office.  Someone actually had to go out to the back of the Post Office and look around to come back with the folder of stamps to actually sell me some!  Obviously a rare event!