Day 97: Verona

JULY 9 - Its a real treat to stay somewhere out in the countryside, where there is no street noise at all at night. It is so peaceful in San Felice, this hilly suburb of Verona.

The local church down at the bus stop.

After breakfast we head down to the bus stop, where cicadas are already droning away in the heat.

The first stop is Giusti Palace and gardens. The palace dates from the 1400’s, when Provolo Giusti from Tuscany moved here to set up a wool dying factory. The areas for wool processing, over time, were converted to gardens.

The gardens include a few mazes and ponds. A huge storm in 2020 brought down many of the trees, but a lot of repair has taken place since.

The garden has an upper terrace, from which there are great views of the city.

The lowest area of the garden grounds houses the ‘palace’ or ‘apartment’ as it is called here. Basically the house in which the Giusti family lived. It is composed of many well preserved rooms, with construction commencing in 1583. The decor is a mix of Renaissance to early 20th Century.

There is even a dining table with all the dishes and silverware set out.

It is amazing that this apartment is so well preserved today, considering that it took damage from WWII bombing raids, and that during the war, it served as a command post for the German Luftwaffe.

Since we never get enough of fossils, today we found the largest sidewalk ammonite yet.

My shoes for scale.

Campanile di Santa Anastasia.

Make our way south, just past the first (Roman) city walls, to the Verona Arena. This is basically the center of Verona from a tourist standpoint. This area is one of the best preserved Roman arenas of its kind, built in 30 AD, with an original capacity of 30,000 people.

The exterior shows a great deal of the original Roman architecture. The inside has been heavily reconstructed for use as a venue for operas and plays.

As grandiose as the arena was in Roman times, after the fall of the western Empire it fell into ruins, helped along by the occasional earthquake, and was covered in vegetation. It became known to locals as the ‘devil’s maze’, as people could still crawl around in the underground passages among the jumbled blocks. Lack of historical knowledge may well have made its presence a complete mystery to many by that point. Many blocks were used for building of other structures in the city. It was only in Renaissance times that interest was taken in the arena itself, and it was cleaned up and repaired for use as a venue for shows of all sorts.

The original outer shell of the area is mostly destroyed, with only this piece remaining intact.

The Portoni della Bra, one of the main medieval gates just south of the arena. It is first mentioned in 1257, and has undergone a lot of modifications since, including the installment of a clock.

Arco de Gavi. This arch was originally commissioned by the Gavi family, during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37 AD). It was placed at the beginning of a road leading into the city. Centuries later, a medieval wall was constructed around it, using it as a gate. But it took Napoleon to really mess things up, as he ordered it demolished during his occupation of the region (Napoleon did this a lot). The pieces were moved around town, ending up stacked in the arena. Then Mussolini, looking for ways to bring back the glory of the Roman empire, had it reconstructed using the original pieces, at a site very close to where it originally stood.

Cathedral of Santa Maria Matricolare.

An old doorway I liked.

We eat along the river at a restaurant typical of what we’ve encountered in Italy. Most come in just to lounge around and drink on the terrace, puffing away on cigarettes and engaging in animated conversation. The real eating usually takes place later than we like to have dinner.

Italy