This was our first visit to Verona and what a beautiful city break we had! Walkable, safe and astounding medieval architecture and artworks. We spent three nights but I could have easily spent another two just in the city before you look at the wealth of travel opportunities within an hours drive.
- Recommended days 5
- Budget £
- Difficulty Easy
Highlights
We were up at 4AM for our drive to the airport after looking at hotel costs and finding a hotel near Bristol airport with 3 nights parking would have almost doubled our holiday cost. Parking itself at Bristol is another extortionate cost and I opted to use the Silver Parking Zone with bus transfer rathe than onsite parking to save £70.
We got to the airport in plenty of time which was lucky as due to the chaos of work for the last few weeks I’d forgotten to check in online and later found out I’d forgotten to get my E-Sim too. We had to queue the old fashioned way to get printed tickets but luckily we weren’t with Ryanair so there was no cost.
Our flight was wonderful, over half empty, a lovely crew and apart from a bit of drama from a petulant 40 year old guy who refused to put his bag in the locker before landing, uneventful. I even managed to doze off a bit so that was a bonus. We landed at Verona – I have to say probably the biggest bump on a landing I have ever experienced – and the airport was almost empty so we were through security and in a taxi within 15 minutes.
We left our luggage in the hotel and started walking towards the meeting place for our walk. We’d booked a guided walking tour around the Verona hillside and the only availability was 12:45 on our day of arrival so it was lucky everything had gone smoothly. We even had time to stop at Starbucks for a coffee and loo break!
The city was beautiful, everywhere we looked had wonderful architecture and detail that just made it a joy to walk around. We had a quick diversion to the Piazza dell Erbe as it looked stunning – a wonderful marble fountain in a large square surrounded by medieval buildings with exterior fresco decorations.
Our Accommodation in Verona
We stayed at the Mastino Rooms in Verona, a few minutes walk from the Arena. The Rooms seem a lot quieter than the hotel proper as they are in a side street with less road noise. The room was warm and had good wifi and plenty of space . Breakfast at the hotel was decent and there were plenty of option and efficient staff.
Downsides were the luggage area had no security so anyone could have collected our bag, something I am always paranoid about! Also the plug sockets in the room were very limited, no sockets near the desk and one actually on the bed headboard which meant you couldn’t use it when you were in bed.
Overall though a good hotel in a great location and good value for money. All of the attractions we visited were within 20 minutes walk and there were plenty of eating venues within a few minutes walk. Parking in the area was limited though so a car would need to be left offsite.
Guided Walking Tour on Verona Hillside
We crossed the Roman and medieval bridge of Ponte Pietra, repaired after being blown up by the Germans to stop the Allied advance in 1945, to start our walking tour. This walking tour was booked through Viator and was to let us see a side of the city we wouldn’t explore on our own.
We met Leo and started our walk up the hillside, past the excavated Roman theatre and to the Castle of St Peter, which is actually a 19th century palace. We took in the views over the city, looking stunning in the winter sunlight, before walking past the remains of the original medieval fortress that is sadly neglected now. We later discovered from our guide, Leo, that the town was famous for the frescoes on lots of buildings but almost all were destroyed by the French during Napoleon’s occupation of the city.
The pathway was wonderfully quiet and followed the line of the old city walls that were a mix of medieval crenellated brick walls and Austro Hungarian 19th century bastions before we reached the Monastery of San Zeno, home to the largest ecclesiastic library outside of the Vatican. We saw a shrine to the Madonna there and a lovely cloister before making our way down the hill and walking along the river back to the Ponte Pietra where we finished our tour.
Deb was suffering from all the walking and we were both rather hungry too so we stopped for a calzone that was so large we really should have got one to share before carrying on back to the hotel. After unpacking we both had a nap for an hour or so before sorting the pictures from today.
The hotel was located about 5 minutes walk from the Christmas market so we wandered out to take a look at that and ended up spending a couple of hours ambling through the stalls. The setting was awesome, in a park with the Roman arena as a backdrop. The stalls were largely as expected and some of the craft stalls and speciality food stalls looked wonderful. Deb is going to visit tomorrow without a little shadow saying “Can we go now?”
We both slept badly but managed to get to breakfast for 8. There was a good selection of food and, proving that you can’t teach an old dogs new tricks, I over indulged so was waddling by the time we finished. For our second day of this Verona city break we had a city walking tour booked at 10, so we picked up our coats and walked outside in to the chilly air.
Verona Highlights Walking Tour in Small-group
Our second tour was also booked through Viator and this was a walking tour of the old city. The meeting point was only a few minutes away so Deb sat in a café and I wandered around to see what was nearby and was shocked to turn the corner and see a huge medieval fortress. Luckily, when we started our tour that was the first stop although we didn’t actually go inside. The castle was the Castelvecchio and I will be returning tomorrow to visit it properly! It also had a wonderful bridge attached that had been destroyed by the Germans in 1945 and lovingly restored by the locals by 1951.
Next to the castle was the Arch of Gavi, a 1st century AD Roman arch that was originally outside of the city on the Via Postumia road. Napoleon demolished the arch in 1805 and it was then moved to its current location and reconstructed in 1931. I’m not quite sure Napoleon had such a thing for destroying Italian cultural heritage but he was French.
The tour continued through the old Roman streets, past the Porta Borsari – the marble front of the original Roman city gate, the brickwork behind and the towers having long since decayed. After walking past a variety of beautiful buildings we reached Piazza dell Erbe, the square we were in yesterday with the beautiful 15th century frescoes on the buildings. We turned down a side street in to another pretty square, Piazza dei Signori, which had a stunning Venetian palace as well as the entrance to the Torre dei Lamberte viewpoint.
The architecture changed for the splendid tombs of the Scala family, a series of 14th century outdoor mausoleums in an incredible Gothic style, housing the remains of the medieval ruling family. We also nipped in to the courtyard of Juliet’s family house to see the 1930s creation, using an Egyptian sarcophagus, that is such a successful marketing achievement.
The tour ended at Verona’s arena, the 1st century AD amphitheatre that predates the Colosseum by about 30 years. Although the outer tier of the building has long since been looted the two inner tiers that remain are still imposing and impressive. Having recently been restored they are in continual use both as a tourist attraction and also for the Verona Opera Festival, where 13,000 people can sit in the arena and listen to the music.
We walked back through the Christmas market after the tour finished and had a quick lunch before relaxing in the room for a couple of hours. I then went out at sunset to walk back to the Castel Vecchio and crossed the bridge to take some pictures. It was a chilly evening but lovely to walk around and I found the outdoor ice rink on my way back to the hotel.
We went for dinner at the nearby Miscusi Pasta Restaurant and ate far too much (see breakfast for reference!). I had a mushroom and pasta dish followed by 5 of the smallest but densest chocolate brownies ever and also a very tiny cup of coffee that was ridiculously strong! We walked back through a different Christmas market and eventually got back to the hotel and some warmth.
Castelvecchio
Our final day in the city was free of organised tours. After breakfast I walked to Castelvecchio while Deb stayed in the hotel to relax. I think entry was 9 euros but could be wrong, whatever it was it was certainly worth it. I spent a couple of hours in the museum and walking the battlements of the castle.
The frescoes inside were fantastic and showed what a colourful place the interior would have been 700 years ago. There were some wonderful paintings and stonework as well as painted statues and the ladder emblem of the Scala family was everywhere. It must have been a shock to English knights that travelled to fight as mercenaries in Italy to see the opulence of the cities compared to the ones they left behind.
The armoury had various weapons and pieces of armour from the medieval period. The battlements gave excellent views of the attached bridge, naturally, as well as visibility of the town and river. It was all very well preserved and safe to walk around with pretty much all the information shown in both English and Italian. The weather was absolutely glorious which helped, chilly but wonderful blue sky and sunshine.
Verona Roman Theatre
I walked across the marvellous Castelvecchio Bridge (I’m still angry it was blown up by the Germans in 1945) and then followed the path of the river for a mile or so to reach the Roman Theatre. I paused to look at the medieval and Roman Ponte Pietra, again destroyed by the Romans in 1945 and rebuilt in the 1950s.
The Roman Theatre definitely cost 9 euro to enter and the theatre was small but well preserved and still in use in the summer so you could watch Romeo and Juliet performed in a Roman theatre in Verona, awesome. The attached archeological museum was in an old convent so the building itself was pretty impressive, particularly the cloisters and a stunning room with a painted ceiling.
The Roman finds varied from inscriptions to statues to mosaics to jewellery to glassware to bronze work and even pottery. The finds were gathered from throughout the Verona district and showed the quality of life the Romans enjoyed. The museum was well laid out with all of the explanations in English as well as Italian and I probably spent an hour on the site.
Fresco Museum and Juliet’s Grave
The combination of lots of photos on the phone and talking to Sofia for an hour meant that my battery was now at 9% and I needed the sat nav to work out how to get to Deb. We were meeting up for lunch and also to visit the Museo degli affreschi G.B. Cavalcaselle, Fresco Museum for short, to see the frescos that had been saved from various properties and also Juliet’s alleged grave.
Our lunch consisted of 6 cakes, my fault, I just couldn’t resist, combined with a whole thimbleful of coffee. We then walked across to the museum and went inside. Verona was also known, with others, as the “painted city” in the late medieval period with hundreds of houses having the exteriors decorated with extravagant frescoes that were incorporated into the design phase of the houses so using tromp l’oeil to replace expensive window and door frame carvings.
The city was heavily looted by Napoleon’s troops and lots of the frescoes were destroyed as well as those that suffered natural decline and accidents. A large number have been rescued from buildings that were under threat and they were literally breath taking to see. It was interesting to read about the process of removing them from the original walls and the quality and variety of art was quite spectacular.
Juliet’s grave was another marketing move from the 1930’s but the rose poignantly left on the edge of the tomb gave it some of the romance it needed. A fitting end to our tour of the city.
We were extremely lucky with the weather which was spectacular for December. We had several other museums planned in case the weather was wet so could have happily spent another few days in the city itself. The cities of Padua and Mantua are very close by and Lake Garda is only 30 minutes away. Venice itself is only just over an hour and there are trains linking all 4 cities if you don’t want to drive.
Although this city break in Verona was only three days it is amazing how much you can see in that time. I find that within a few hours of arriving somewhere new almost all the stresses of work and life have evaporated, proving that a change really is as good as a rest.