Oh Romeo, Romeo

Verona, often referred to as 'Little Rome' and widely celebrated as the home of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette is a beautiful base for exploring the Veneto region in Northern Italy. The majestic Adige River with its grey, green flowing waters flowing from the Alps snakes along one side of the city while a medieval Romanesque wall with its regular archways signifies the border of the historical town centre. Once a completely walled city, now Verona sprawls to encompass a population of over 250,000. On the tourist path you'll walk the cobbled streets around the impressive Verona Arena, the smaller cousin of the Roman Collesium. Every July through to September notable operas are staged in the arena that was erected in AD30 and has been well preserved at least showing a portion if the original towering walls. Incredibly, one weekend we were there in May coincided with a staging of Romeo and Juliette. We jumped at the chance of witnessing the iconic play in such an historic setting. Upon entering the underground entrance in a darkened passageway we scale the stairs and wait for directions. In front of us is the awesome view of the gaping Arena, it's stage set and floor seating in place, we head to our positions with cushions in hand. The atmosphere is buzzing with excited Italians munching panini in expectation. We are situated half way up the wall, the best seats I managed to obtain within a week's notice. The guests lucky enough to secure positions at the front are notably more well dressed. They are dressed to impress and part of our show. At 9:30pm when dusk turns to night, the show commenced with a spooky scene of hooded actors walking through the audience, in and out if the aisles. This created the impression of darkened village streets late at night. A feeling of unrest. The production took a modern slant to Shakespeare's masterpiece and the singing, dancing and acting was never short of excellent. I had one ear on the all-Italian production, and the other on my daughter constantly asking 'what are they saying?'. To be there was a tick-box experience and one never to be forgotten (although it was the first time in Italy that I've paid more than €2 for water, it was in fact €4 yikes!).

Back on the tourist path you'll also stroll through Piazza Erbe with its bustling daily markets and roundy cafés obscuring amazing architecture. You'll wander into Piazza dei Signori with its statue of Dante and you may even climb the stairs to the top of Torre dei Lamberti (84m high) for a birds eye view over the terracotta township. You'll visit the white domed duomo, church of St Anastasia (filled with a gaudy array if art and architecture) and the church of the patron saint St Zeno with it's soaring roof, crypts, tombs and art dating back to the 1400s. Also along the path you'll elbow your way through thick crowds to stand in the tiny square housing a bronze statue of Juliette outside the Casa di  Giullietta. No one knows for sure if the Romeo and Julluette story was ever true but the city unashamedly feeds the dream with monuments, food and even a building for Juliette's tomb. We all need a little romance in our life don't we? The Baci di Giuliette (Juliette's kisses) are small chocolate cookies sandwiched together with chocolate cream. A delight if eaten fresh. The white version has and almond flavour. Other foods of Verona include risotto sourcing rice from nearby Vialone Nano rice fields, polenta based on corn meal and considered a poor man's dish, and pandoro, the Christmas cake that is the most popular Veronese dessert. 

Wandering by restaurants and cafés you'll notice reference to donkey and horse meat on the menus. Although extremely foreign from our culture and a touch off-putting (okay, I'm being polite here), you just have to remind yourselves that this is an ancient custom sprung from times when such dishes were seen as luxuries and signs of wealth and power. Luckily, lake fish as well as sea fish and seafood also features widely on the menu due to the proximity to Lake Garda and Venice. 

Verona's streets become extremely full during the afternoons with large tour groups following sheep-like behind umbrella-holding guides so make sure you get out and about early to enjoy the city for the beauty that it certainly offers. 

Notable places to eat:

An old tower has been turned into a pizzeria/foccaceria with an amazing selection of meat and vegetable toppings, also catering for vegans. The stone milled flour and wood ovens produce a high quality bread and focaccia base. It's small, cosy interior is also a super trendy venue for a pre-dinner aperitif where they will happily feed you with plate after plate of focaccia cut into bite size pieces. 

Pizzeria La Torre - via San Pietro Incarnario

Bread by Renato Bosco

Ristorante Maria Callas (great fish and seafood with gorgeous garden setting for alfresco dining). Via San Pietro Incarnario

Mimmo Pasticceria (beautiful cakes and treats)

Via Diaz, Verona