Bridge into Verona City
After an extremely quiet night, we had a nice breakfast at the C House Lake Cafe. We then took the 10.58 am train to Verona to meet Stefano. He is based in Verona. A rather tall and handsome chap who spices his monologue with dark humor, we both took to him at once. ! As can be seen by their dressing and mode of transport (his was a foldy bike), Italians by and large are environmentally conscious.
So, lets get this fact straight. Romeo and Juliet is FICTION ! It was dreamt up by William Shakespeare and his play has been reproduced and copied in literature texts the world over making Verona a must visit for all those die hard romantics !
Arched Entrance into the old town
Verona is a fairly large town of 250,000 inhabitants with easily millions of visitors from near and afar coming over to visit the birthplace of Romeo and Juliet. In fact the 2 main things Verona is famous for are
Romeo and Juliet setting
Marble
Verona has a collisseum which was built in 46 AD which was even before the one built in Rome. The Romans ran the city for about 1000 years and later, it was managed by a wealthy family, the Scaligeri, after which the Venetiens, Austrians and Napolean's army conquered it.
Italy became a republic in 1861 somehow managing to band together all the disparate families and their interests under a country's rule.
Verona Colleseum
The Romans influence is clear in the form of numerous structures which are seen even today,
These are
a) Torres (Gate)
b) Viaducts
c) Arches
d) Clocktower
e) Winged lion statue (from the Venetiens)
We were very fortunate that the weather that day was sunny and pleasant 10 - 12 C.That day when we went there were not that many foreign tourists but most were making a beeline to the Juliet's House to catch a glimpse of THAT balcony.
A funny but true story is tied to that balcony. I will elaborate on that in the next post.
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