France/Italy roadtrip – Verona | alison richards

I woke up early and was walking across the Ponte Pietra bridge at 8:17am on my one full day in Verona. I had a lot to squeeze in!

I'd decided that my first destination was going to be Juliet's house, and I was there before 9am. I'd watched the movie "Letters to Juliet" before coming on my roadtrip so I was keen to see if the real life Juliet's house was the same as that depicted in the movie. Alas, I don't think there is anyone who writes heartfelt notes to Juliet these days (unless I missed them in the early morning), and more people just graffitiing on the walls. It was interesting to read through the notes though, written on scraps of paper, band-aids or receipts and stuck to the wall with chewing gum. Nice.

I'll also mention here that Juliet's house is not actually her house or has anything to do with the fictional Juliet. It just so happens to be a house with a (new, purpose built) balcony, and they have erected a statue of Juliet outside. The house is a museum, apparently full of Renaissance-era costumes, but I didn't think it was necessary to go inside.

The lovely restaurant right near the campsite

On “Juliet’s” balcony. You can see the statue at the bottom left

I left Juliet's house and head out to the main square nearby, Piazza delle Erbe. It was a lovely central area, with the beautiful frescoed Mazzanti house and the fountain. Apparently the statue on the fountain dates back to 380AD!!

I was feeling a bit peckish so I head to the nearby Loacker cafe. Loacker is a brand of biscuits and chocolate that I had seen in the supermarket, so when I entered the cafe I figured they would have a pretty decent hot chocolate, since I don't drink coffee and tea-drinking is not a thing in Italy! I bought a hot chocolate and a croissant - delicious! Next, I was heading off to the Verona arena

The beautiful frescoes on the Mazzanti houses, built in the 1300’s and decorated in the 1500’s by Alberto Cavalli

The lion of St Mark, signalling Verona was once under the rule of Venice

The Roman statue in the middle of the fountain

There were actually several statues dotted around Piazza delle Erbe

I got to the arena and stood looking at it, before getting my phone out to see if there are any tickets available for shows for the evening. There were a few tickets left, and yes, it is internationally famous for opera performances but I was living out of a campervan, so I talked myself out of it because I would have had to go and buy something to wear to it - I was just not prepared for a fancy night out!

I left the arena to the tourists posing in front of it and kept on walking. I wandered past a church, San Fermo Maggiore, and decided to go take a look inside. It was an interesting church, split into an upper and lower church. The lower church is from the 13th century, and features really well-preserved frescoes from that period. The upper church, is still pretty old, with a multiple-keeled, wooden ceiling that reminded me of the hull of a ship which was built by the Franciscans in 1314. There was apparently another beautiful fresco but it was behind so much scaffolding that you could see nothing of it. Boo!

I eventually hit the city limits in the form of a bridge over the river Adige, Ponte delle Navi.

Part of the arena, Apparently I did not take any decent photos of one of the largest Roman amphitheatres ever built.

13th century fresco in the lower church of San Fermo Maggiore

The ceiling of one of the chapels in the church

Ponte delle Navi, which was rebuilt in 1946 after being blown up by the Nazis.

My next stop was a long walk away. Halfway through the walk there I did contemplate turning around and going back - I was tired and beginning to get hungry. But I persevered and walked the 3km to the church of San Zeno. This was a church built between 967-1398, but its claim to fame is that Romeo and Juliet were supposedly married in the crypt. You just couldn't escape the Bard's story in Verona! In addition to its fictional claim, San Zeno is also one of the most significant Romanesque churches in Italy, and was used as the model for all the other Romanesque churches in Verona.

There were some rather interesting paintings inside

It was definitely time to go seek out some food, and I walked about a mile to get back to Verona city and found a little restaurant where I ordered a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine. It had already been a long morning!

Part of an old Roman building incorporated into the more modern (but still old) building

After lunch, I went walking around aimlessly and eventually ended up at the Verona duomo which was located within an area of the city full of churches - there was at least 5 of them in a small area! I decided that I'd had enough of paying to go inside churches so admired them from the outside, but they were still lovely.

On the way to “Romeo’s House”, a private residence that was bestowed a name and therefore has loads of tourists walking past. It was just a gate and walls

I was starting to get tired and a lot slower with my walking so I decided that I'd stay out for a little while longer then head back to the camper. I popped into a grocery store to buy food and looped back to Piazza delle Erbe to take another look at those lovely Mazzanti houses. Then went back to the camper for a well-needed cuppa.

I went to a restaurant called Osteria Macafame for a delicious dinner. Then back to the camper for an early night. I was glad I didn't get opera tickets, I was knackered!

Campsite: Camping Castel San Pietro

Rating: 6.5/10. Really difficult campsite to drive into (and out of, but that's a story for the next post). Basic facilities could do with an overhaul. BUT it's so close to town, and takes about 10 mins to walk through the city walls. Not cheap, but not too pricey either.