Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
Many sights are closed, or only open for a half-day, on Monday. The excellent-value
Veron-
aCard
(
www.veronacard.it
; 2/5 days €15/20)
covers free entry into the main attractions and
churches. It's available at sights and tobacconists and includes free use of the town's
buses.
Roman Arena
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
( 045 800 32 04;
www.arena.it
;
Piazza Brà; opera tickets €21-220, 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 legendary
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; Via Dietro Anfiteatro 6b)
nearby.
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 damanged by Napoleon and
then WWII bombing that many feared it was beyond repair. But instead of erasing the past
with restorations, Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa reinvented the building for a new mu-
seum, adding 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 castle is now a fitting home for Verona's largest museum, with a di-
verse collection of medieval statuary, 14th-century frescoes, jewellery and paintings by
Pisanello, Giovanni Bellini, Tiepolo and Veronese. In Room 17, look out for the clearly
recognisable Verona landmarks of the Piazza di Signori and the Della Scala palaces in the
painted
predella
(altarpiece) depicting the
Storie di Santa Barbara
(Trials of St Barbara).
MUSEUM
