Top Reasons Everyone Should Visit Verona, Italy, at Least Once

Shakespeare set two works in Verona – The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) and Romeo and Juliet (1597) – but it’s only the latter that fires the imagination of Verona visitors, thanks to a ferocious marketing campaign launched by the city in the 1930s. Join the crowds snapping selfies on the balcony on which Romeo famously declared his love for Juliet, see where Romeo lived and venerate Juliet’s tomb. But remember – every last sight in Verona related to the Shakespearean star-crossed lovers is pure fiction.

Verona is not without its crowd-tangled streets and high-season gelato queues, but compared to traditionally jam-packed Venice – a one-and-a-half-hour drive or train journey east – the lack of tourist hordes is a relief. Meander away from Verona’s historic centre into lesser-frequented neighbourhoods, such as Veronetta, around romantic Renaissance gardens at Giardino Giusti and up high with a funicular ride to Castel San Pietro, where the city unfolds sublimely at your feet. Thrillseekers can escape the crowds with whitewater rafting on the River Adige.

After the Battle of Verona in 489CE, the Veronese threw meat from slain horses into their stockpot to cook up with vegetables, herbs and a splash of the region’s signature Valpolicella red wine. It became known as pastissada de caval. The horse stew is now served with polenta or potato gnocchi all over town, including at slow-food favourites Trattoria al Pompiere and Trattoria Pane e Vino. Foodies adore the risotto all’amarone, blending Vialone Nano rice harvested from paddies on the Veronese plain with local amarone wine.

The hills north of Verona are awash with vineyards. There’s no finer spot to taste wine than Valpolicella, a beautiful green sweep peppered with aristocratic villas built as weekend retreats for Verona nobles. Many are now wineries open to guests, including the 14th-century Villa Serego Alighieri, purchased by the son of Medieval poet Dante, who fled to Vernoa from Florence; the winery even has overnight accommodation. Elsewhere, guided tastings at Azienda Agricola Giuseppe Quintarelli above Negrar are a rare opportunity to experience the intense red amarone wines of the most illustrious winemaker in the region.

As with many EU countries, Italy encourages foreigners to feel at home. From the end of the 19th century until the 1970s, some 30m Italian emigrants sought their fortune in other parts of the world. Modern history has seen Italians welcome Romanians, Moroccans, Albanians, Chinese and others onto their home soil. Immigrants account for 8 percent of Italy’s population today, and multicultural Verona raises the bar with some 12 percent hailing from another country.

Take a 45-minute drive to the manicured shores of the majestic Lake Garda. Feast on Veronese art and architecture all morning, and frolic along the most beautiful lake in Italy come afternoon. If you have kids in tow, Disneyesque theme park Gardaland is quick to access. Otherwise, hit the soothing hot springs in the pretty village of Sirmione, or hike gently rolling vineyards hemming in Bardolino. Top tip: boats sail from Sirmione to Riva del Garda on the northern shore of the lake.

Rome might be the Italian superstar of Roman ruins, but Verona gives the capital a run for its money with its littering of pink-hued Roman relics built between the third century BCE and first century CE. Admire remnants of Porta Leoni and Porta Borsari – gates in the defensive walls originally ensnaring two sides of the riverside city – and tour the Arena di Verona. Complete the story at the Museo Archeologico, squirrelled away in a second Roman theatre, just north of the city centre.

A Medieval fortress built in the 14th century, bombed during World War II and famously reinvented by modern architect Carlo Scarpa in the 1960s is the majestic setting for the fine arts museum in Verona. As much a lesson in modern museography as in gothic, Renaissance and 16th- to 18th-century Italian art, the museum juxtaposes raw concrete and steel with masterpieces by Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, Tintoretto, Rubens and others. Don’t miss the startling works of contemporary art in its courtyard.

History aficionados, get ready to swoon over the unexpected beauty of an open-air amphitheatre – a superbly preserved, tiered arena hewn in local pink limestone from Valpolicella in 30CE. In its Roman heyday, 30,000-odd wildly excited spectators watched gladiator games at the Verona Arena. Today, modern stars to take to this awe-inspiring Veronese stage include Paul McCartney, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and Adele. In 2026, the arena will host the closing ceremony of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Sitting on an ancient limestone step after dark, candle in hand, as opera singers let rip with Verdi’s La Traviata or Puccini’s Turandot during the summer Opera Festival is utterly magical. The acoustics inside the Roman amphitheatre are sensational, thanks in part to the arena’s elliptical form. As every opera connoisseur will tell you, this is one of the finest places in the world to enjoy opera.