Verona sits in a loop of the Adige with a first-century Roman amphitheatre still in weekly use, a complete Roman street plan under the modern one, and a run of Scaligeri Gothic monuments from the family that ran the city in the fourteenth century. UNESCO listed the whole historic centre in 2000 for exactly that continuity — two thousand years of building on the same footprint without a break. It is also the wine capital of the Veneto: Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino all start within half an hour, and Vinitaly, Italy's biggest wine fair, is held here each April.
For the Arena opera festival, which has run since 1913 and puts 13,000 people in a Roman amphitheatre under the stars. For a compact, wealthy, extremely handsome city that most people only see for three hours between Venice and Milan. And for Lake Garda, 30 minutes west.
Things to do
- Opera at the Arena — Aida has opened almost every season since 1913. The acoustics are unamplified and the set pieces are built to be seen from 100 m.
- Piazza delle Erbe and the Torre dei Lamberti — The old Roman forum, now the market square, with an 84 m tower above it and a lift most of the way up.
- The Scaliger tombs and Castelvecchio — Gothic funerary monuments in the open air, and Carlo Scarpa's 1960s museum conversion — a landmark of modern Italian design in itself.
- Basilica di San Zeno — Romanesque at its best: bronze door panels, a rose window and Mantegna's altarpiece. Twenty minutes' walk from the centre and usually quiet.
- Castel San Pietro at sunset — A funicular or a stiff climb across the river for the classic view down onto the roofs and the Adige.
- A Valpolicella cellar — Amarone is made from grapes dried on racks for months. Estates 20–30 minutes north take visits with a booking.
- The Roman theatre and archaeological museum — First-century BC, cut into the hillside opposite the old town, with a summer Shakespeare season.
Where to base yourself
The Verona neighbourhoods worth knowing before you book.
- Coming soon Città Antica Inside the river loop: Piazza Bra, the Arena, Piazza delle Erbe and the Scaligeri tombs. Everything is here and everything is walkable.
- Coming soon Veronetta Across the Adige — the university quarter, the Roman theatre and Castel San Pietro above it. Cheaper, younger, five minutes from the centre.
- Coming soon Borgo Trento North of the loop: liberty-style villas, riverside walks and quiet family hotels ten minutes from Piazza Bra.
- Coming soon San Zeno Around the Romanesque basilica west of the centre — residential, characterful, with good neighbourhood trattorie.
- Coming soon Valpolicella Not a neighbourhood but the obvious alternative base: wine estates 20 minutes north with rooms, at half the city's rates.
- Coming soon Lake Garda's eastern shore Bardolino and Lazise, 30 minutes west — a lake holiday with Verona as the day trip rather than the other way round.
3 days in Verona
- Day 1 Roman and Scaligeri Verona
Arena at opening, then Piazza Bra and Via Mazzini to Piazza delle Erbe. Torre dei Lamberti for the view. Lunch nearby. Afternoon at Castelvecchio and its bridge, then the Scaliger tombs. Evening: opera, or dinner in Veronetta.
- Day 2 The other side of the river
San Zeno in the morning. Cross to the Roman theatre and up to Castel San Pietro. Afternoon in Valpolicella for a cellar visit, back for dinner in the old town.
- Day 3 Lake or Palladio
West to Sirmione and Lake Garda for the day, or east to Vicenza for Palladio and the Villa La Rotonda — both about 40 minutes by train.
Day trips
Worth the train or the drive from Verona.
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Lake Garda & Sirmione Sirmione's castle and thermal peninsula, 30 minutes west by train and bus. - Vicenza Palladio's home town, 45 minutes east.
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Villa La Rotonda Palladio's most copied building, on the edge of Vicenza. -
Mantua Gonzaga palaces and Mantegna's frescoed Camera degli Sposi, 45 minutes south. -
Padua Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, an hour east — book the entry slot. -
Prosecco Hills of Conegliano & Valdobbiadene The Valdobbiadene terraces, about 90 minutes north-east by car.
Practical
- Best time to go
- The opera season runs mid-June to early September and is the single best reason to come — book months ahead. Otherwise April–June and September–October. Vinitaly (April) fills every hotel for a week. Winter is quiet, cold and clear, with a well-regarded Christmas market in the Arena square.
- Getting there
- Verona Villafranca (VRN) is 15 minutes by bus. Porta Nuova station is on the high-speed line — Milan 1h10, Venice 1h10, Bologna 50 minutes, Rome 3h. It is also the junction for the Brenner line north to Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck.
- Getting around
- Walk. The historic centre is inside the river loop and takes 20 minutes to cross. Buses run from Porta Nuova to Piazza Bra if the luggage is heavy. The VeronaCard covers the monuments and the buses. The centre is a ZTL — leave the car outside it.
- Eat & drink
- Veronese cooking is northern and unhurried: risotto all'Amarone, pastissada de caval (a horse-meat stew, and a genuine local speciality), bigoli with duck ragù, gnocchi — Verona claims them, and holds a gnocchi carnival. The wines are the point: Amarone and Valpolicella Ripasso, Soave whites, Bardolino from the lake shore. Every bar has a proper wine list.
- Know before you go
- The Casa di Giulietta is a thirteenth-century house with a balcony added in 1936 for tourists, and the courtyard is a crush. Nobody is stopping you, but set expectations. Arena tickets on the unreserved stone steps are cheap and hard — take a cushion, and they are only sold as unnumbered. The Arena closes to visitors on performance days.
