Verona: the Arena and the legend of Juliet

Built around 30 A.D., the Arena of Verona is among the best-preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world and since 1913 has hosted one of Europe's most important opera seasons every summer.

Just steps away, the House of Juliet displays the famous balcony added only in the twentieth century: no historical evidence links the building to Shakespeare's Capulets, but the courtyard remains one of Italy's most photographed.

Continuing toward the river you cross the Stone Bridge, of Roman origin and rebuilt after destruction in 1945 by recovering much of the original blocks from the river.

On the other bank, the Castel Vecchio, a Scaliger fortress of the fourteenth century now a civic museum, closes the route with its fortified bridge overlooking the Adige.

Tradition says that touching Juliet's breast in the courtyard brings luck in love: the bronze, polished by millions of hands, is now noticeably lighter than the rest of the statue.

The Arena, designed for gladiators rather than tenors, has natural acoustics that still allow an opera to be heard without amplification even in the highest stone tiers.