We left Veice this morning. Here is the baggage being loaded onto a baggage boat. The people travelled in the luxury of a water taxi. We used them frequently this visit, with our group, and it is luxurious. Sometimes the water was so high at the hotel we could not board there, and had to walk to the Rialto Bridge where the taxis would pull into the vaporetto stops just long enough. It’s complicated in Venice.
Our ultimate desitination is Milan, but to break up the drive, we spent a few hours in Verona. It’s a lovely city of 255,000 or more people. The layers of time are very apparent because the city walls have large, intact portions. So, you can see the historical evidence of Romans, who made it a city in the 1st century BCE due to its strategic location.
To bring this point home, we walked into, of all things, a Benneton store, down stairs to the children’s section. In the middle of the department was the conserved remains of a roman domus, with partial mosaics, and the original Roman home wall screening the dressing room.
The Romans also build a large colussuem, and it is still in use as a concert venue. Verona is famous for its opera season. The workers were breaking down the seating as we took in the space from the stone seats.
The take-home message: Romans knew how to build! I’m not very interested in hearing anything more about gladiators and animals being killed, but the space is awe inspiring. I like to imagine returning here for an opera.
Our tour included a walk through the area of the old Jewish ghetto, with the boundary marked with a bronze line, and a monument on a synagogue wall to Rita Rosani, who saved many Jewish lives.
Our tour organizers had listed visiting “Juliet’s balcony,” as an attraction of the city. Sure enough, as we walked around, there were signs pointing the way to Romeo & Juliet sites. It is a little known fact that I am a charter member of the South Pine Shakespeare Society, in Albany, so I was interested. If your scepticism about the site is raised, you are wise:
One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays is set in Verona, around the tragic consequences of two families who feud. It is based on source material by an Italian writer, but Shakespeare probably would have known the English version of the poem not the original Italian? For certain, he did not, for himself, know Verona.
But, Verona is making as much as they can of their relationship with the bard. So there are signs pointing to the house of Capulet (because the keystone of an arch has a hat carved in it– see for yourself in the photo, above) and the tomb of Juliet (we didn’t go there), and of course, Juliet’s balcony.
The small courtyard with the balcony is accessed through a theater where many posters of the various productions of Romeo and Juliet are displayed. Entering a lobby, you are greeted by screens, volume down, playing clips of the English versions of movies of the film:
And then, a tiny courtyard, a gift shop selling lots of hearts, and a stone balcony high above. Admission to the balcony for a second fee, so that your love can take a photo from below. Or, pay a fee and access the building kitty corner from the balcony, to get an across the courtyard shot.
It was a bit funny and a lot awful all at once; and far more American than Italian.
The shop sells heart shaped locks that can be inscribed and left in the courtyard. There is a bronze statue of Juliet, and touching her breast brings luck in love, it is said. They are on statue #2 because #1 eventually wore out. Maybe some of these people never read the play or saw a movie? Romeo and Juliet’s relationship could be measured in hours, and I wouldn’t use it as an inspiration for lucky in love.
With our tour ended, we made our way to a nice lunch, featuring a risotto dish made with cheese and amarone wine, which is typical of this area. This restaurant had a tome of a wine list.
With a long feeling bus ride to Milan in the late afternoon, we were ready to stumble off the bus for a provacative lecture from our professor and a good dinner.
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