aswana-cliche: Italy - Verona ( 2006)

Day 6 : 5th May 2006

We travelled from Venice to Verona at around 9.30am on day 6 in Italy, a bit late than usual but 2 hours later we had arrived in Verona city, another UNESCO World Heritage Site , after travelling nearly 160km on the road. The city is famous with ancient Roman monument, among others is Verona Arena.

with Juliet's statue

Verona is a city straddling the Adige river in Veneto, northern Italy, being the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of northeast Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km2 and has a population of over 720 thousand population. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, owing to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows and operas, such as the lyrical season held out in the Arena, the ancient amphitheater built by the Romans. The city has been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture.

An entrance to the house, believed belong to Juliet's parent

Beside the Arena, Verona is also famous for the Juliet's balcony. Since the 1930s, letters addressed to Juliet keep arriving in Verona. As of 2010, more than 5,000 letters are received annually, three quarters of which are from women. The largest single group of senders are American teenagers. The letters are read and replied to by local volunteers, organized since the 1980s in the Club di Giulietta (Juliet Club), which is financed by the City of Verona. The club has been the subject of a book by Lise and Ceil Friedman and is the setting for a 2008 book by Suzanne Harper and a 2010 USA movie, Letters to Juliet.

The famous Juliet's balcony in Verona

Due to the attraction of Juliet's balcony, I will not write in length regarding the Verona history in this entry. In short, Verona's history is similar with others city in Italy, it started with the Lombard King passed down the throne to King of Franks, Charlemagne, down to Otto 1, the Duchy of Bavaria, later the city was under Napoleon Bonaparte and in the end, the unity of Verona is becoming part of the unification of Italy, today. What attracted tourist to Verona is mainly attributed to the famous English poet and playwright, Shakespeare, who had created a playwright of Romeo & Juliet's romance extremely famous originally held in Verona. The playwright was written by Shakespeare, an Englishman, in 1595, who sat across 1400km from the play set in Verona. But the story background was clearly in Verona, see the link of Romeo & Juliet to read what the Wikipedia has to say.

I’m sharing here what was written by Shakespeare in Act 1 of Scene V;

"Romeo:

If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Juliet:

Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,

Which mannerly devotion shows in this;

For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,

And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

After having enough with the crowds surrounding the Juliet's house, we moved on to see other's attraction the Verona City has to offer, the famous Arena @ Colloseum seated at Piazza Bra.

After a quick briefing of the Piazza and it's attraction, we were given a free time to have our own arranged lunch. We chose to have Mc Donald and had a nice lunch with a small group of 4.

Piazza Bra, often shortened to Bra, is the largest piazza in Verona, Italy, with some claims that it is the largest in the country. The piazza is lined with numerous cafés and restaurants, along with several notable buildings. The Verona Arena, originally an amphitheatre built nearly 2000 years ago, is now a world-famous music venue with regular operatic and contemporary music performances. Verona's town hall, the Palazzo Barbieri, also looks out across the piazza.

A garden within Bra is shaded by cedar and pine trees. It surrounds the fountain of the Alps and a bronze statue of Victor Emmanuel II (not in the picture). This monument to the first king of Italy, in which he is sat atop a horse, was inaugurated on 9 January 1883, five years to the day after his death. There are many significant buildings within and around Bra, with construction taking place over many centuries.

The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre (seen in above photo) in Piazza Bra, which is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. The building itself was built in AD 30 on a site which was then beyond the city walls. The shows and games staged there were so famous that spectators came from many other places, often far away, to witness them. The amphitheatre could host more than 30,000 spectators in ancient times. Muse, Elton John, Rod Stewart and many others has been performing here.

I was tempted at seeing the Louis Vuitton boutique but dared not enter as I had no intention to purchase any. Until.. the devil really tempted and seduced and I felled for the gorgeous LV handbag in Milan. When I asked Zuri to snap below photo, I thought that a photo was suffice for my temptation.

We explored others ancient preserved building in Verona, while shopping for souvenirs before it was time to take a bus to the next destination. Due to a short distance between Milan and Verona, a visit to the 2 cities were combined in 1 day.