Verona — the Arena, Romeo and Juliet, and a Roman city still in use

Verona is a Roman city that never stopped working. Its Arena — a first-century amphitheatre seating 15,000 — is among the best-preserved in the world and still hosts summer opera performances under the stars, a tradition running without major interruption since 1913. Beyond the Arena, Verona has two thousand years of visible architecture layered onto a curve of the River Adige: Roman gates, Romanesque churches, Gothic Scaligeri palaces, Renaissance piazzas, and the houses that gave Shakespeare the setting for Romeo and Juliet. It is a proper city, not a theme park, and it is 70 minutes by high-speed train from Milan.

The Arena di Verona

The Arena (circa AD 30) is the third-largest Roman amphitheatre surviving anywhere — smaller than Rome’s Colosseum and Capua’s, larger than all others. It seated 30,000 in antiquity; today the oval is arranged with 44 tiers of stone seats accommodating 15,000 for opera performances. Entry to the Arena without a performance is around €10 (fast-track available for €15); during the summer opera festival (late June through early September) tickets start at €30 for stone seats (unglamorous but atmospheric) and reach €250 or more for the covered stalls.

The experience of watching Verdi’s Aida or Puccini’s Turandot in this setting — candles held by the audience, the ancient stone warm from the afternoon sun, the scale of the staging that the amphitheatre demands — is one of the singular theatrical experiences in the world.

Piazza Bra and the Roman city centre

Piazza Bra, Verona’s largest square, frames the Arena on its open (southeast) side with a broad pedestrianised boulevard — the Liston — lined with café and restaurant terraces. Behind the Arena, the Roman city grid is largely intact: you can trace the decumanus (east-west axis) from Piazza Bra through Piazza delle Erbe to Piazza dei Signori.

The Roman Theatre north of the old town (on the opposite bank of the Adige, entry around €6) is less famous than the Arena but quieter, well-preserved, and hosts a summer Shakespeare and contemporary theatre festival.

Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori

Piazza delle Erbe (the market square) occupies the site of the Roman Forum. It is ringed by medieval and Renaissance palazzi, a frescoed Mazzanti House, and a central stone canopy sheltering a Roman statue of the Madonna known as the Verona Madonna. Fruit and vegetable stalls still operate here most mornings; by afternoon it converts to café tables.

Piazza dei Signori is adjacent — quieter, more monumental, dominated by the Palazzo della Ragione, the Loggia del Consiglio (one of the finest Renaissance buildings in the Veneto), and a statue of Dante (who spent time in Verona during his exile). The Scaliger Tombs (Arche Scaligere), the Gothic funerary monuments of the Della Scala ruling family, are visible through an iron fence on the adjacent street and are free to view from outside.

The Juliet connection

Verona’s association with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is, as locals freely admit, entirely literary. The balcony attributed to the Capulet family is a small thirteenth-century palazzo on Via Cappello whose courtyard fills daily with visitors photographing the bronze Juliet statue and touching her right breast for luck (the statue has been replaced twice due to wear). Entry to the courtyard is free; the upper rooms are a small museum (entry €6). The tomb of Juliet, in a Franciscan monastery complex south of the centre, is a slightly more atmospheric site (entry €6).

The Shakespeare association drives significant tourist traffic but does not define the city. Veronesi themselves are matter-of-fact about it.

Wine in the Verona hinterland

Verona sits at the centre of one of Italy’s great wine regions. Valpolicella (red, mainly Corvina grape) is produced in the hills immediately northwest; its most prestigious wines are Amarone della Valpolicella (dried-grape, concentrated, 14–16% alcohol, prices from €30 to several hundred euros per bottle) and Recioto della Valpolicella (sweet, rich). Soave (white, Garganega grape) is produced east of Verona. Both zones have cellar-door trails reachable by car in 20–30 minutes.

Castelvecchio and the Adige bridges

The Castelvecchio, a Scaligeri fortress on the bank of the Adige (built 1354), was converted into one of Italy’s finest civic museums in 1964 by architect Carlo Scarpa in a renovation that became a landmark of museum design. The collection covers Veronese art from the medieval period to the seventeenth century; the building itself is as interesting as the contents. Entry around €6. The adjacent Ponte Scaligero, a crenellated medieval bridge destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt stone by stone from the riverbed afterward, is one of the most photographed sites in Verona and free to cross.

On the opposite bank of the Adige, the Roman Theatre and the hill of San Pietro above it give the best panoramic view over the city — a 10-minute walk from the theatre up to the terrace above the archaeological zone. The view encompasses the Arena, the river meanders, the old town roofscape, and the vineyard-covered hills of Valpolicella to the northwest.

Verona’s markets and daily life

Piazza delle Erbe’s morning produce market is in operation from around 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays and Saturday. It is genuinely a local food market — vegetables, cheese, bread, olives, and Veronese specialities — not purely a tourist show. Surrounding cafés serve aperitivo from 6 p.m.

The Porta Borsari, a Roman gate on Corso Porta Borsari, is another free Roman monument in the city centre, dating from the first century AD. The Arco dei Gavi, a Roman honorary arch reconstructed in the 1930s near Castelvecchio, is also worth a brief stop. Verona’s Roman monuments are unusually well-preserved and distributed through the living city rather than concentrated in an archaeological zone.

Getting to Verona from Milan

Frecciarossa high-speed trains from Milano Centrale reach Verona Porta Nuova in 65–75 minutes; advance tickets from €9, peak prices around €30. The station is 10 minutes’ walk (or 5 minutes by bus) from the Arena. Verona Villafranca airport (VRN) has low-cost connections to northern Europe and is an option for those combining Verona with Lake Garda.

Combined day trips from Milan visiting both Verona and Lake Garda or Sirmione are popular and practical — Sirmione is 35 kilometres west of Verona.

For the wider day-trip context, see best day trips from Milan.

Frequently asked questions about Verona

Is one day enough for Verona?

A well-planned day covers the Arena, Piazza Bra, Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Signori, Juliet’s balcony, and a lunch — leaving you with a thorough impression of the city. An overnight stay is worthwhile during the opera season (arriving in time for an early dinner before the performance, which starts at 9 p.m.) and gives you the city in the early morning before day-trippers arrive.

How do I get Arena opera tickets?

Book directly through the Arena di Verona Foundation website (arena.it). Popular productions sell out months in advance. Seat categories: poltronissima (numbered stalls, covered, most expensive), poltrone (numbered chairs, open air), gradinata numerata (numbered stone steps), and gradinata (unreserved stone, cheapest). Unreserved gradinata seats cost around €30 and are atmospheric; bring a cushion and arrive early.

When is the Arena open during the day?

The Arena is open for visits (without performances) from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. On opera performance days it closes earlier. A fast-track or guided tour ticket avoids queues.

Is Verona a good base for Lake Garda?

Excellent. Sirmione is 35 kilometres west of Verona (30 minutes by bus or car), and the eastern shore of Lake Garda — Bardolino, Lazise, Malcesine — is accessible by bus or car from Verona in 30–60 minutes.

Is Juliet’s house worth visiting?

It is worth a brief stop (the courtyard is free), but manage expectations: the connection to Shakespeare is literary, not historical. The museum inside the house is modest. The more atmospheric Shakespeare-related experience is the open-air theatre festival at the Roman Theatre.

What is the best restaurant in Verona?

Verona has a strong restaurant culture built on Veneto and Veronese specialities: horse meat (not to everyone’s taste), salami d’asino (donkey salami), Amarone risotto, and pastissada de caval (horse stew). For a straightforward excellent lunch, the osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and Via Rosa are reliably good at €15–25 per main course.

Can I combine Verona with Lake Garda in one day from Milan?

Yes — it is one of the most popular day trips: fast train to Verona (70 minutes), morning sightseeing, then bus or taxi to Sirmione (35 minutes), afternoon at the lake, return bus to Desenzano and train back to Milan. A long day (12–13 hours) but entirely feasible.