Verona is for Lovers
Wowsa did we make a train comeback. We were calm. We actually looked at the status on the app. So, you can teach old people new tricks. Honestly Roma is a beast. Again, I want to go try it getting of Rome a second time. I will definitely go back just to leave the train station.
We arrived in Verona just after 1 pm. Some tidbits about Verona from the Google:
“Between bustling Milan and touristy Venice — about two hours from each — is Verona, a welcome sip of pure, easygoing Italy. Made famous by Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, Verona is one of Italy’s most-visited cities — second in the Veneto region only to Venice in population and artistic importance. If you don’t need world-class sights, this town is a joy.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet made Verona a household word. The House of Juliet, where the real-life Cappello family once lived, is a crass and throbbing mob scene. The tiny, admittedly romantic courtyard is a spectacle in itself, with visitors from all over the world posing on the almost believable balcony and taking snapshots of each other rubbing Juliet’s bronze breast, hoping to get lucky in love.
The city is so famous for love that it gets countless letters addressed simply to “Juliet, Verona, Italy.” A volunteer group, the Juliet Club, responds to these mostly lovesick people. (They got particularly busy after the 2010 movie Letters to Juliet, about a girl who finds a letter while visiting the House of Juliet and travels through Italy to help reunite the author with her lost love.)
Despite the romantic fiction, the town is packed with genuine history. Because ancient Romans considered Verona an ideal resting spot before crossing the Alps, the city has a wealth of Roman ruins. The well-preserved amphitheater — the third largest in the Roman world — dates from the first century AD and still retains most of its original stone. Over the centuries, crowds here of up to 25,000 spectators have cheered Roman gladiator battles, medieval executions, and modern plays — including Verona’s popular summer opera festival, which takes advantage of the arena’s famous acoustics.”
(Watch the movie. It’s so good!)
Our studio apartment is in a renaissance building just near Porta Borsari, an ancient Roman gate in Verona, northern Italy. “The gate dates to the 1st century AD, though it was most likely built over a pre-existing gate from the 1st century BC. An inscription dating from emperor Gallienus’ reign reports another reconstruction in 265 AD.” The gate is very cool and I will try to upload photos.
We were so exited about our apartment not only for its appearance but most importantly bc it has a washing machine. We did one load of clothes immediately.
We were hungry again haha. We got many recommendations from our host for great local restaurants and we tried one that was open since it was almost 3 PM. She told us that we had to try the Amarone risotto since it is a typical delicious dish of this region.
I found this description about Amarone risotto.
Territory
Amarone Risotto perfectly tells each of these peculiarities and speaks of a territory that has always been a producer of high-quality raw materials from which the best recipes of the Veronese tradition come to life. The risotto with Amarone is a story made of poverty and passion but above all, of love between Vialone Nano rice. It is the ‘grass’ of ancient culture that for a long time has represented, for peasant families, the only or, at least, one of the few means of livelihood and the “pillar” of the recipe.
Valpolicella
Amarone wine is among the emblems of this land and, in particular, of that happy valley that gave birth to extraordinary wines like Valpolicella. The Amarone della Valpolicella, produced exclusively in the province of Verona, is perhaps the most famous Venetian wine in the world. It is defined with this name, “Amaro” to distinguish it from the other spearhead of Veronese enology, the Recioto della Valpolicella. This wine is, instead, sweet from which it involuntarily originated.
Back in 1936 and in the Cantina Sociale Valpolicella, the winery manager Adelino Lucchese, tasted from a barrel of well-aged Recioto exclaimed: “This is not an amaro, it is an Amarone!” The Recioto, put in barrels and then forgotten, had continued to ferment until it became dry. The sugars had all turned into alcohol and made the wine lose its sweetness, creating this wonderful dry passito: a red wine, with a dark color, very full-bodied, full and with a high alcohol content. The wine, born by mistake became, ironically, of enormous value.
A Love Story
A generous destiny with humanity. Here is the true love story because we do not decide the most authentic love. It is born by chance and then becomes great. Amarone makes us eat together like Romeo and Juliet, and the greatest joys is found at the table.
After we had a quick lunch, we walked to the famous ( and very crowded) Casa di Giulietta.
From Google:
The Casa Museo di Giulietta (house of Juliette) one of the most famous places in the city of Scali and an absolute reference point for lovers from all over the world, is located in a medieval palace in Verona where, probably, since the thirteenth century, the Dal Cappello family resided, which gives the name to the street and whose emblem is carved in a relief in the keystone of the internal arch of the building’s courtyard.
The building, located in the delightful Via Cappello, a short distance from the central Piazza Erbe, has been the subject of numerous restoration and renovation interventions over the centuries, passing through the hands of several owners. Meanwhile, the legend and popular belief that identifies it as the birthplace of Juliet Capuleti, protagonist, together with the beloved Romeo Montecchi, of the famous Shakespearean tragedy, grew, and the Municipality of Verona in 1907 considered it appropriate to acquire at least part of the entire medieval complex.
The famous balcony is the result of the assembly of marble remains from the fourteenth century that, until 1920, lay in the Castelvecchio Museum as stones to be re-used, according to the architectural fashion of the time. The medieval residence, picturesquely restored by Antonio Avena at the beginning of the 20th century, has a beautiful internal facade in exposed bricks, a Gothic-style portal, trilobed windows, a balustrade that connects the various bodies of the house from the outside and, of course, the famous balcony. In the courtyard is the bronze statue of Juliet, by Nereo Costantini.
In Verona there were actually two families named Montecchi and Capuleti (or, to be exact, Cappelletti) and are also mentioned by Dante in the VI Canto del Purgatorio in the Divine Comedy.
Juliet’s House is one of the most visited places in Verona.
The Capuleti Room, inside the structure, is also able to host wedding ceremonies. The reservation made refers exclusively to the room chosen for the indicated time. The access route to the room is defined due to the concomitance of events and demonstrations and may be subject to variations even at the last moment.”
After our visit and lucky in love rub of the statue of Juliette, we headed to the grocery store for breakfast items then wondered through very old piazzas. Verona is fairly tale beautiful! The grocery store is by the river so we checked out a lot of different restaurants. Everybody has the am Amarone risotto on the menu.
After a quick break back at our place, we ventured back out to eat at one of the restaurants we looked at earlier but different one caught our eye. Each restaurant also has a ravioli of the day. Trattoria Alla Collona that is famous for its large pork cutlets which we did not get. I got grilled chicken. Paige got grilled horse and we shared the special ravioli that was stuffed with sage and beef with a butter olive oil dressing. After dinner, we walked across the Ponte Pietra Roman bridge and took beautiful photos of the cathedral at night.
We are excited for a very chill day tomorrow!
