In fair Verona . . .
Simon Brooks explores an Italian city that is home to great opera and beloved Shakespearean characters
Verona claims to have more Roman ruins than any Italian city other than Rome. But it wears this honour lightly. Most of its streets and many buildings incorporate the majestic remains of ancient walls, roads and villas into their fabric with a sort of nonchalant pragmatism. Even by Italian standards, the city also has more than its fair share of medieval and Renaissance art and culture.
Sauntering along one of Verona’s most famous shopping streets, the Corso Porta Borsari, the locals hardly seem to notice the magnificent, exceptionally well-preserved Roman gate as they pass under its great arches, eating icecream, gossiping or checking out each others’ clothes — this is Italy after all.
So my attempts to look like a blase local are completely undermined as I gaze up in admiration at the Porta Borsari, with its two great arches and 12 additional arches spread over two levels. Dating from the first century BC, it has had various names but Borsari is thought to refer to the bursary paid to Roman soldiers for guarding this, the main entrance to the city. One way in which I can increase my chances of being taken for a genuine Veronese is to arm myself with an icecream — Verona is a great place for this frozen indulgence. Now mildly distracted by a tub of chocolate and raspberry The Piazza dei Signori, or the Lords’ Square, with its statue of poet Dante Alighieri. gelato, I wander into the city’s most famous square, the Piazza delle Erbe. Here, the city’s long history as an affluent trading location is revealed in brick and stone. Palaces, merchants’ houses, towers and statues stand in dumb, stationary tribute to more than 2000 years of business, while visitors sit at cafes and try to work out which of the buildings is which, according to their guidebooks.
In fact, the smaller and quieter Piazza dei Signori next door has more genuine Italian charm than its larger neighbour. Close by is the Centro di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, which has regularly changing exhibitions among the inevitable Roman ruins. In the Piazza dei Signori, I stop for an espresso at a cafe as the barman and a customer engage in a debate about an article in La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of Italy’s two sports dailies. Freshly fortified, I set off for Verona’s most famous landmark (after the spurious Casa di Giulietta, or House of Juliet, this being the city of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), its vast Roman amphitheatre, known today as the Arena. Built in around AD30, the building could accommodate 30,000 spectators. In 1913, to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, it also became the world’s largest openair opera venue. Watching a performance here during the summer is as much about the spectacle as it is the music. After the final act, I decide that having sat through Verona’s great cultural offering, the thing I deserve more of is its other great creation — it’s time for an icecream.
— The Sunday Telegraph