Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
I must admit: I’m in love with Verona, Italy. A small, ancient city with a beautiful city center located at the river Adige. And in fact the only real city of love – being the stage for William Shakespears Romeo and Juliet. I always enjoy living here for a day or two, roaming the city, having a relaxed time. And if it once gets to small you can easily travel further on to the Lago di Garda (by bus) or the laguna di Venezia (by train).
Tired of walking around in the city center of Verona, Italy? In need for a quite place to relax, have a coffee break or something to eat? The Cappa Café is a coffee bar and restaurant located nicely close to the river Adige in the northern part of the city. You’ll get some vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce and capers) or a sprizz aperol in the cosy atmosphere of this place and in summer times you can sit outside with a view on the river.
The church of Sant’Anastasia is the biggest church in Verona, Italy. It is a gothic style church you will come across on your way to Ponte Pietra and the Teatro Romano. The church dates back to 1280 CE and has a 72 meters high bell tower. It is a quite simply sacral building which fascinates me mostly by the different stones in various colours used to build it.
“She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses. I will answer it.—
I am too bold. ‘Tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.”
– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (act 2, scene 2)
If you visit Verona, Italy you might think that the Piazza Brà with the Arena di Verona is the main square of the town – but that is wrong. It was once outside of the main city and was included later on. To find the citys core you’ll have to walk along the crowded shopping street (Via Giuseppe Mazzini) to the Piazza dell Erbe – a long stretched market place with wonderful old houses, market stands, a wale tooth and a column with the symbol of the Republic of Venice; the lion.
Verona, Italy is known to be the city of love – mostly because it is the stage to William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet; or in Italian: Romeo e Giulietta. Couples come here to find their traces and can visit three places: the house of Romeo (Via Arche Scaligere, 2; not open to the public), the tomb of Juliet (Via del Pontiere, 35; containing a museum) and most important: the house of Juliet – la casa di Giulietta.
The Arena in Verona, Italy is the town’s landmark and directly located at the Piazza Brà – a main square that you’ll reach when entering the town from the railway station Porta Nuova. It dates back to the year 30 CE and is the third largest Roman amphitheatre after Rome and Capua. It has 45 tiers and can hold up to 22.000 spectators.
“There is no world without Verona walls,
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Hence “banished” is banish’d from the world,
And world’s exile is death.”
– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
The Albergo Torcolo in Verona, Italy is a hotel I returned to multiple times during the last years. It is a very small and narrow hotel with old-style furniture – nothing really special one would say. But there are two reasons why I always love to be there; the first is the very friendly family running the hotel. You immediatly feel at home and it is possible to switch between Italian, English and German in just one sentence at the reception.
When I was a child we were travelling every year to the same flat in the same village: Dorf Tirol near Merano in Tirolo, Italy. At the end of my twenties my brother and I decided to return for a short visit. Therefore we took the train from München, Germany via Brennero to Bolzano, Italy and continued to Merano. Continue reading “From Alto Adige to Veneto”