Verona

This is Gianfranco Fainello's photograph of the Roman Arena in Verona - M didn't take his drone.

Verona is famous for three things - the home of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliette' and the yearly Opera season performed in the ancient Roman arena in the centre of town.

Willow had been quoting great swathes of the stuff huffing
into town with her suitcase in tow from the rail station.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hence from Verona art thou banished.

Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.

ROMEO

There is no world without Verona walls

But purgatory, torture, hell itself.

Hence “banished” is banished from the world,

And world’s exile is death. 

We are lucky to have gone, it wasn't in the original plan but because the 2015 Expo was in Milan the accommodation prices were double anywhere else so we decided to stay 1/2 way between Venice and Milan for the night - leave very early the next morning and spend a long day in Milan on our way to Florence.  Fortunately for the bank balance - but not for our auditory thrills - there was no Opera scheduled for the evening we were there. The following weekend had Romeo and Juliette and Aida on! No Turandot this year. We did however have the nicest hotel on the whole trip and got upgraded rooms because ours weren't ready when we arrived - yeha! (Hotel Giberti - a short walk to the centre of town.)

It was a hot day and the town was packed with tourists. Verona was compact and very pretty, bordered by a wide river with several impressive pedestrian bridges and a couple of castles overlooking it.

The Three trees of Verona. Macrocarpa, Magnolia and of course the Olive. 

The Oldest bridge

Not many pockets of shade on this baking hot bridge.  We passed three sets of beggars doing their rocking and moaning the first time over. An hour or two later we passed them when they were on their lunch break with a wicker picnic hamper full of delicious snacks and laughing merrily as the dogs scoffed down the roast meat portions they were throwing to them. A sick and nasty profession that is a curse all through Europe.

The Town walls and main gates - I stopped to take this photo on a crossing - the truckie that had to wait for me was very generous with his time and gave me a big grin!

There was a big display of Opera staging used in the arena and a huge queue to go into it.

For Tosca

For Don Giovani

For Aida - outside the Opera House which is too small for the 'Verona Opera Season'

 We wound our way through fancy shopping streets and markets, had lunch overlooking the river.

The cold fresh fruit looked great.  Petal bought a fan from another stall after seeing how great they were.

The market square where slaves were sold in Roman times and scolds or thieves punished in Medieval times.
That is a neck cuff not a handcuff.

Next we headed for the house of Capello - no this is not a misspelling of Capulet - but close enough for the owner of the house to stick a balcony on it and sell admission to the house of a fictional character! You can go into the courtyard to rub Juliet's right breast (good luck for those unlucky in love?!) and to the very busy souvenir stores for free.  It is even possible to pay a large sum of money to get married on the balcony!

Pretty manly looking Juliet up there!

The council now give big fines to people trying to wedge 'letters to Juliet' between the stones of the wall as used to be the custom shown in the movie, mainly because they were using chewed gum to hold them in place and bricks without mortar have a habit of tumbling down. Now you are allowed to use sharpies to write whatever you want - if you can find space - on the ally walls leading into the courtyard. A couple of desperate loves had written their pain on panty shields and stuck them as high as they could jump.  If you really need the advice of the women on the 'Juliet panel' you can still write letters to them, they are volunteers and work in a building close to the Capello house.

Leaving notes and names for Juliette

Verona definitely is the city of balconies.

Marble foot paths people - designer stores and boutique sandwich bars this way!
Verona is a smallish town in Venezia and has emblems of both Roman and Venetian ownership.

 There are a few years in Shakespeare's timeline where he is unaccounted for - some say he was busy being dad back at Stratford-upon-Avon, some say he was having a lovely holiday at a wealthy lovers' estate, some say he had his head down writing and rewriting his plays.  No one seems to think that he went on a European trip yet he set so many of his plays out of England. R and J in Verona of course and then Two Men of Verona in neighbouring Milan.  Perhaps he had a friend who was able to describe the area.

From Two Gentlemen of Verona

“That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, if with his tongue he cannot win a woman.” 

“To die, is to be banish'd from myself; 
And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her, 
Is self from self: a deadly banishment! 
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen? 
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by? 
Unless it be to think that she is by, 
And feed upon the shadow of perfection.
Except I be by Silvia in the night, 
There is no music in the nightingale; 
Unless I look on Silvia in the day, 
There is no day for me to look upon; 
She is my essence, and I leave to be, 
If I be not by her fair influence 
Foster'd, illumin'd, cherish'd, kept alive.”

“You, minion, are too saucy.” 

“PROTEUS: Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit.
SPEED: And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse.” 

It seems that Shakespeare had a bit of a thing about banishment - perhaps he had been during those quiet years. 

After pushing through the bus loads of tour groups that had just arrived we headed for the best looking gelato shop in town.  I ordered a black cherry (amarena) gelato and it was love at first lick - so maybe if Juliet's breast doesn't work for you, you could just eat your way through a gelato store until you find the magic.  I think Bridget Jones may have come up with that philosophy.

What would make you happier? Rubbing Juliet's statue with her extra shiny right breast or pouring these delicious cherries over some ice cream ...  hmmm.  After only 30yrs they had to cast a new statue - her breast got a hole rubbed in it and cracks split her arm where silly young lads pulled themselves up to get a handful - in your dreams boys.

After the crowds we headed to a park with our gelato - the council guy lit some sort of goo to smoke out the wasps before he swapped the bin bags.

We stopped in at the city's Cathedral - we did make a rule of only one church per city we'll wee how that stacks up in Rome!

A lesson in perspective - same building, and the tower hasn't moved.  It is dedicated to S.Maria Assunta
Below the church they have dug down to the mosaic floors of a much older church or temple.

Cloths handed out to cover offensive legs and shoulders.  Willow's comment was 'Didn't Christ say just as you are?'
The gawdiest - gilded Madonna I have ever seen but she has a nice face.
Petal always lights a candle - I think her Pathfinder friends may question her motives.

This scene of Christ's Ascension (rare in Italian Churches we discovered) was commissioned by the guy painted in at the bottom of St James feet in the piece on the left. Right is St Bartholomew  - patron of our little estate in Cambridge.

 

This sculpture is quite impressive

That evening a huge lightning and thunder storm with not too much rain sped over head.  The colours of the sunset with a sky show foaming above us was quite spectacular. First and last time we left a hotel without one of us having a camera!

A lovely town surrounded by lots of other beautiful places, quick access to the lakes, if we'd had the time to dally.