Verona Things to Do Tips by Nemorino Top 5 Page for this destination

Seating categories Arena Review

On this daytime photo you can see the various seating categories in the Arena. I have heard and read various estimates of how many tickets they put on sale for each performance, with 14,000 being the lowest estimate.

The most expensive seats look white in the photo because they are protected during the day by heavy white plastic covers. These are the "Poltronissime" seats or first sector stalls, now subdivided into "Poltronissime GOLD" at EUR 198 per seat and normal "Poltronissime" at EUR 168. (These are the Friday and Saturday prices. On other days they cost a bit less.)

The red seats are the "Poltrone" or 2nd sector stalls, which cost EUR 127 on Fridays and Saturdays.

The grey seats on the lower half of the steps are the "poltroncina numerata di gradinata" or numbered seats on the steps, which cost EUR 104 in the middle sections and EUR 84 on the sides.

These are the prices as of 2012. They have not changed since 2009.

People over 65 or under 30 years of age are entitled to reduced price tickets, but these cannot be bought online.

The prices for all categories are lower for Gounod's Roméo et Juliette than for the other operas.

Second photo: Here's what these grey numbered seats on the steps look like. They aren't padded, so you might want to rent a cushion, but at least they have a back rest and they are reserved.

Third photo: The top sections are the "Gradinata" or unreserved stone steps. On Fridays and Saturdays these cost EUR 27.50 for the middle sections D and E, EUR 23.00 for the side sections C and F. The far-forward sections B and G used to cost EUR 12.00, but they are no longer listed in the current price list.

Fourth photo: The section under the Ala is section E.

Address: Ticket office: Via Dietro Anfiteatro, 6b

Phone: 045 8005151

Website: http://www.arena.it

Dear Juliet / Cara Giulietta Romeo & Juliet Review

"Juliet lives here, write to her!" So it says in five languages, right above her mailbox. Evidently people have been writing to Juliet for years, and the letters are answered by her volunteer "secretaries" who are members of the Juliet Club in Verona.

There is even a contest every year in February (on Valentine's Day) to choose the move moving and heartfelt letters. And on September 16th every year they celebrate Juliet's birthday.

Second photo: "Cara Giulietta" -- for those who don't like to write letters with pen and paper, there are four computers in her house so people can write to her in Italian or English. These are obviously historic computers from a bygone century, the twentieth.

Address: Via Cappello 23

Directions: Near Piazza Erbe

Phone: 045 8034303

Website: http://www.julietclub.com/index_en.asp

Setting up the stage for Goldoni

When I visited the Teatro Romano, there was a crew of several men and one woman setting up the stage for a new production of the play La putta onorata by Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793).

I didn't see the play (don't know how much I would have understood), but it would have interested me because a number of Goldoni's plays were made into operas during the 18th century.

Second and third photos: Assembling the stage set for the Goldoni play.

Fourth photo: The finished stage set.

Address: Regaste Redentore 2

Phone: 045 8000360

Teatro Nuovo

The Teatro Nuovo or New Theater was opened in 1846, and is still used as a venue for plays, musicals, ballets and operettas.

This is the home of a theater company called the Compagnia Atlantide Teatro Stabile di Verona. They have several Shakespeare plays in their repertoire, including an abridged version of Romeo e Giulietta which they sometimes play on the terrace next door to Juliet's House.

Address: Piazza Viviani 10

Phone: 045 8006100

Juliet's House Romeo & Juliet Review

Okay, so Juliet might have been a fictional character, but that didn't stop her from having a house and a balcony. Supposedly this house really did belong to a 14th century Veronese family which just might have been one of the families Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1594.

All sorts of lovely people from all over the world come here to take photos of Juliet's balcony with their digital cameras.

Update 2011: You can now hear Juliet singing a few bars of Gounod’s opera from this very balcony in the Arena’s flash mob video on their website and on YouTube.

Second photo: More young people taking photos in all directions.

Third photo: More tourists in the courtyard. There is a small museum in Juliet's house, but young couples usually save half the price of admission because just the girl goes in so she can stand on the balcony while her boyfriend takes a picture of her from down in the courtyard.

Fourth photo: Looking down at the courtyard. The red chairs on the terrace are for spectators who come to see an abridged version of – you guessed it – Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Fifth photo: View from one of the upper windows of Juliet's house. That's Castel San Pietro in the background.

Address: Via Cappello 23

Directions: Near Piazza Erbe

Phone: 045 8034303

Cangrande's refuge Castelvecchio Review

This Old Castle (it wasn't always called that, but got the name Old when the newer fortifications were built on the hill of San Pietro) was built by the Scala family during the 14th century when they were the rulers of Verona. It became their residence and fortress during the rule of Cangrande II in 1354.

Cangrande, appropriately enough, translates as "top dog".

Attached to the castle is this fortified bridge called Ponte Scaligero over the River Adige, which the Scala family eventually had to use to make their escape from the city when they had fallen out of power.

Second photo: Here's a front view of the castle, from Via Roma.

Third photo: In the castle there is now a very interesting museum with artworks from several centuries.

Fourth photo: A painting of Salome in the Castelvecchio museum. The story of Salome was made into a play by Oscar Wilde, which in turn was the basis of the opera Salome by Richard Strauss.

Address: Corso Castelvecchio 2

Phone: 045 8062611

Website: http://www.comune.verona.it/castelvecchio/cvsito/

Juliet's tomb Romeo & Juliet Review

After encountering amazing numbers of tourists at Juliet's House, I expected there would also be crowds at her tomb -- or at least four or five lovelorn teen-age girls of various nationalities gazing photogenically at the tomb and barely holding back their tears.

But no, I had the place to myself when I was there, which I guess just goes to show that most tourists are more selective about their sightseeing than I am.




Second photo:

A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.

Third photo:
Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

Fourth photo: No, this is not Juliet, just a nude statue of somebody else that is on display in the small museum upstairs from her tomb.

Fifth photo: The site of Juliet's tomb was used by the ancient Romans for rubbish disposal, so numerous amphora (jugs) have been found there. Evidently these were thrown away because they got rancid after oil had been stored in them for a long time.

Address: Via del Pontiere 35

Phone: 045 8000361

Love is in the air (and on the walls) Romeo & Juliet Review

With the help of some nice VirtualTourist members on the Verona Forum I was able to figure out that Vero and Giada are girls' names (Vero is short for Veronica), and that the person who loves Giada does so in two ways: erotically (ti amo) and selflessly (ti agapo, which turns out to be Greek and not Italian).

Giada means jade, by the way.

You can click on the link below if by any chance you would like to see this thread from the Verona Forum.

Website: http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-280090-1-1-Travel-0-140824-Verona-discussion.html#answerID_1904336

Statues for Aida Arena Review

The stage for Zeffirelli's production of Verdi's Aida is dominated by two large statues of ancient Egyptian pharaohs* (rulers), which between performances are stored out in front of the Arena on the Piazza Bra.

*Thanks to VT member awladhassan for pointing out that these are pharaohs, not gods, as I had originally written.

Second photo: Piazza Bra and the Arena, with statues for the Aida stage.

Third photo: More of the stage elements for Aida in storage on the Piazza Bra, with the Arena in the background.

Fourth photo: Egyptian symbols on some of the stage elements for Aida.

Fifth photo: On the day of the performance, all the statues and other large stage elements are lifted off of the Piazza Bra and into the Arena by a large crane.

Website: http://www.arena.it

Juliet's bed Romeo & Juliet Review

This is it, Juliet's original, absolutely genuine bed.

Not from the fourteenth century, of course, but from the twentieth, when it was built and used for the love scene in Zeffirelli's film Romeo and Juliet in 1968.

This film won two Oscars, for the Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. Zeffirelli was also nominated for Best Director, and the film was nominated for Best Picture, but both of these awards actually went to Oliver!, directed by Carol Reed, which was a musical based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

Second photo: Next to Juliet's bed is a printed explanation and a photo from Zeffirelli's film.

Address: Via Cappello 23

Directions: Near Piazza Erbe

Phone: 045 8034303