Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
ROMAN ARENA
MAP
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
GOOGLE MAP
( 045 800 32 04;
www.arena.it
;
Piazza Brà; opera tickets €21-220, tours adult/reduced €6/4.50, or with VeronaCard;
8.30am-7.30pm Tue-Sun, 1.30-7.30pm Mon; )
This Roman-era arena, built of pink-tinged
marble in the 1st century AD, survived a 12th-century earthquake to become Verona's le-
gendary open-air opera house, with seating for 30,000 people. You can visit the arena year-
round, though it's at its best during the June-to-August opera season. You'll find the ticket
office (045 800 51 51) at Via Dietro Anfiteatro 6b.
Performances, of which there are around 50 during the season, feature all the classics,
particularly those of home-grown talent Giuseppe Verdi (
Aida
,
Nabucco
and
La Traviata
being perennial favourites). Some of the world's top names perform - Placido Domingo de-
buted here - so book online and book early for headline shows. In winter months, concerts
are held at the adjacent 18th-century
Ente Lirico Arena
.
MUSEO DI CASTELVECCHIO
( 045 806 26 11; Corso Castelvecchio 2; adult/reduced €6/4.50, or with VeronaCard; 8.30am-7.30pm Tue-Sun,
1.30-7.30pm Mon ; )
Bristling with battlements along the River Adige, Castelvecchio was
built in the 1350s by Cangrande II. The fortress was so severely damaged by Napoleon and
then WWII bombings that many feared it was beyond repair. But instead of erasing the past
with restorations, Carlo Scarpa reinvented the building, constructing bridges over exposed
foundations, filling gaping holes with glass panels, and balancing a statue of Cangrande I
above the courtyard on a concrete gangplank.
Scarpa's revived Castelvecchio makes a fitting home for Verona's largest museum, with
a diverse collection of statuary, frescoes, jewellery, medieval artefacts and paintings by
Pisanello, Giovanni Bellini, Tiepolo and Veronese. The museum also hosts interesting tem-
porary exhibitions ranging from Old Master retrospectives to modernist arts and crafts.
MUSEUM
BASILICA DI SAN ZENO MAGGIORE
(
www.chieseverona.it
; Piazza San Zeno; adult/child €2.50/free, combined Verona church ticket €6 or VeronaCard;
8.30am-6pm Tue-Sat, 12.30-6pm Sun Mar-Oct, 10am-1pm & 1.30-5pm Tue-Sat, 12.30-5pm Sun Nov-Feb)
A master-
piece of Romanesque architecture, the striped brick and stone basilica was built in honour
of the city's patron saint. Enter through the flower-filled cloister into the nave - a vast
space lined with 12th- to 15th-century frescoes, including Mary Magdalene modestly
covered in her curtain of golden hair. Painstaking restoration has revived Mantegna's
BASILICA
