The next day we bussed into the city center again and walked around. We visited the Castelvecchio, a fortress with a dry moat (once filled with water from the Adige river) dating from the middle ages, built on a Roman site. There are also three Roman gates, the Arco dei Gavi which dates from the first century AD with the original street under it, the Porta dei Borsari, also from the first century, and Porta Leoni, dating from the first century BC. There is a Roman theater, and a stone Roman bridge, the Ponte Pietri over the Adige river which retreating Nazis destroyed (now rebuilt).  When we returned to the Piazza Bra, the plaza next to the ampitheater, we saw that a large area near the Arena was the storage area for sets and props used in operas performed there.  We took some photos of these strange colorful objects and you can see them on the photos pages.

 

Rounding out the attractions are some very old churches, for example the Basilica of San Zeno Maggiore which dates from the 12th century, in which Shakespeare placed Romeo and Juliet's marriage.  It has a very tall bell tower which is mentioned in Canto 18 of Dante's Divine Comedy. There are several other very old and beautiful churches as well. There also is a Natural History Museum which has one of the most valuable fossil collections in Europe.

 

Verona is, of course, the setting for Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet.  Some enterprising people have provided the venues for any tourist who do not want to leave Verona without seeing Juliet Montagu's or Romeo Capulet's "houses" or the tomb in which the two lovers are interred. For more about this see the Verona web site.  The houses, at least, are billed as authentic, renovated 14th century structures.  We saw the crowds waiting to enter and decided not to tour them.

 

We did walk down the Via Mazzini, a posh shopping street that runs from the Arena to the Piazza delle Erbe, once a Roman Forum, now an open market area.  There are several beautiful, very old structures on the square and on streets going off it.

 

All in all, Verona is a very enjoyable city to visit.