Breakfast was good in the hotel on Friday morning. I would have gone back for seconds but an old guy had coughed into his hand and then pretty much touched every piece of serving cutlery…. I knew I wouldn’t starve.
We had pre-booked La Casa Di Giulietta (The House of Juliet) for 9:45am, on Via Cappello, which was less than a five minute walk from our hotel. Part of the house was closed for renovations but the famous balcony was open on the first floor. Because we’d got there early, there was no queue. It is requested that you only have two minutes on the balcony for taking photos.
On the second floor was the bed that was used in the 1968 Zeffirelli film, Romeo and Juliet, as well as other pictures displayed on the wall. From the film, we also saw the costumes worn by Olivia Hussey (Juliet) and Leonard Whiting (Romeo). We also saw a bust of Shakespeare and various quotes from the text of Romeo and Juliet.
We had purchased a ticket to also see Juliet’s tomb but that’s in a different part of Verona, and will come later. Both visits cost €7 per person in total.
https://casadigiulietta.comune.verona.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=43609
It was very muggy whilst in La Casa Di Giulietta, so we decided to go for a walk to Juliet’s tomb. This was in the direction of the amphitheater where many of the sets for different operas are on display outside. As the sets have to be changed almost every day for the different performances, there is a big crane in situ which is used to lift the set pieces over the top, and into, the amphitheater. Each area gives details of the operas that the set pieces are used for. This included Rigoletto, Tosca, Nabucco, Aida and Il Barbiere Di Siviglia.
Moving on, we walked towards a less touristy part of Verona, where the Tomba Di Giulietta is. We didn’t spend long there, as there wasn’t much to see, plus JC got bitten by some little beasties so we needed to sort out the itching.
After a busy morning there was nothing better than sitting in the Piazza Bra, in front of the amphitheater. We went to Ristorante Liston 12 for a typical Italian lunch.
We headed towards the Castel Vecchio afterwards. It cost €6 to see the museum as well as walk the battlements. There were many religious pictures and statues in the museum. Outside, on the battlements the sky was looking a bit grey, but the weather held. Up there we got a great view of the Adige River, the second longest lake in Italy.
Next, we couldn’t visit Juliet’s house without visiting Romeo’s, so that was our next point of interest. This is a medieval palace in the centre of Verona. It belonged to the Montecchi family, who were supposed to be Romeo’s family, according to literary texts. The family name is more well known as the Montagues in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The heat was making us flag a bit so we went back to the hotel to cool down. After a big of a chill out, we got ready to go for something to eat.
We decided to go to the Vittorio Emanuele Ristorante and were offered a table inside. We had the best service here with the best food. It was the start of an evening we won’t forget.
The Arena Di Verona Opera Festival 2023 is the 100th year celebration of it opening. We had booked tickets for Friday to see Rigoletto, an opera by Giuseppe Verdi.
We were excited about going, however not so excited about the weather forecast. The operas take place in the Verona amphitheater which is in the open air.
We’d had a bit of a rainstorm before we went out and hoped that this would be it. However, it was sadly not to be. The first act started at 20:45 and we were really enjoying it. It helped that subtitles were being shown on a screen so we could follow the opera. Unfortunately for everyone, the orchestra had to be be sent back in 25 minutes later to protect their valuable instruments from the ensuing rain. Three minutes later, they came back out, then promptly went back inside.
We went inside to the concourse of Thr amphitheater trying to imagine what had happened here from when it was built in 30AD. Back in the present, we weren’t quite sure what was going to happen and there were a couple of announcements making the weather predictions from the Italian meteorological agency sound quite promising. But we waited and waited. Having done a bit of research we found that the opera can be suspended for up to 150 minutes. So we waited more, only to be told at midnight that the opera was permanently suspended. We were gutted but also quite realistic about the whole thing. Being from the UK it was easy to see that the rain had set in for the night.
http://www.ristorantevittorioemanuele.com/ristorante-vittorio-emanuele-english.html
This put a bit of a dampener on our last night in Verona, but at least we saw some of this highly acclaimed opera. We are catching a train to Venice tomorrow morning, our final destination.
jctraveller 
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