VERONA · VENETO
Roman arches, Italian sunsets, a city that wrote itself into a play.
Opera at the Arena, wine in Valpolicella, the balcony Shakespeare set in the old town, day trips down to Lake Garda. The pink-limestone city the Veneto’s built around.
Only in Verona
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Wine tastings, walking tours and cathedral visits exist in every Italian city. These three don’t. Opera in a Roman amphitheatre. A balcony pulled out of Shakespeare. A red wine made by drying the grapes for a hundred days. Each one is specific to this corner of the Veneto.
Under the stars
Opera at the Arena
The Roman amphitheatre opened in 30 AD and has been hosting opera summers since 1913. Six thousand people, no roof, a stage three storeys high. Aida, Carmen, Turandot, La Traviata. Verona is the only city on earth where you can watch grand opera in a 2,000-year-old colosseum.
- 1 Verona: Arena di Verona Opera Ticket
- 2 Opera Concert in Verona Palace with Prosecco
- 3 Arena di Verona Opera Ticket Package
The balcony
Casa di Giulietta
A 13th-century palazzo with a balcony added in 1937, Juliet’s House is the world’s only Romeo-and-Juliet pilgrimage site. The walls of the entry tunnel are layered in letters from readers. Touch the bronze statue for luck. Whether the story was set here is beside the point — the city committed.
- 1 Verona: Juliet’s House Fast-Track Entry Ticket & Audio Guide
- 2 Wine Tasting near Juliet’s House & Arena with Valpolicella
- 3 Fascinating Verona: in the Footprints of Romeo and Juliet
In the valleys
Amarone in Valpolicella
Amarone della Valpolicella exists nowhere else. Corvina, rondinella and molinara grapes air-dry on bamboo racks for 100 days before pressing, concentrating the sugars. The wine that comes out has the density of port and the structure of a Barolo. The vineyards begin twenty minutes north of the old town.
- 1 From Verona: Valpolicella and Amarone Wine Tasting Tour
- 2 Amarone Wine-tasting Tour from Verona with Private Transportation
- 3 The Grand tour of Valpolicella: 2 Wineries, Lunch & Amarone focus
Verona in a day
If you’ve got one day, start here.
Most Verona trips begin with the same loop: the Arena, Piazza Bra, Juliet’s balcony, the Castelvecchio bridge. Reviewers agree on the version below.
Verona favourites
Verona’s Most Popular Tours
Arena, Juliet’s House, Old Town, Valpolicella. The reasons most travellers come to Verona, ranked by the people who’ve already been.
By place
Pick a corner of Verona.
The old town for the walking. The Arena for the opera and the Roman bones. Juliet’s House for the literary pilgrimage. Valpolicella for the wine. Lake Garda and Sirmione when you want water.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
A bike along the river if you want to cover ground. A wine tasting if you want Valpolicella in a glass. Pasta-and-tiramisu workshops, gondola-less city walks, lake cruises out of Peschiera, an aperitivo crawl before opera. Twelve ways to plan the afternoon.
Across the year
Verona by the season.
The Arena’s opera summer, the vendemmia in Valpolicella, the December market in Piazza Bra, the spring cycling along the Adige. Verona has four distinct personalities. When you visit determines which one you meet.
In the valleys
Wine country, north of the city.
Valpolicella for Amarone and Ripasso. Soave for the crisp white. Bardolino sloping down to the lake. Three vineyard days we’d put on a first Verona itinerary.
Across the lake
When you need water.
Sirmione’s thermal peninsula, Bardolino’s shoreline vineyards, ferry hops between the towns on the western shore. Our shortlist for the days you swap Verona’s old streets for Italy’s largest lake.
From the kitchen
Pasta, tiramisu, Aperol.
The Veneto’s pasta canon, gelato workshops in the old town, evening aperitivo crawls through the palazzo arches. Three afternoons we’d put aside for the food.
On foot
Verona, the walking version.
The routes that thread the Arena, Piazza Bra, Juliet’s balcony, the Castelvecchio bridge and the hidden alleys behind Piazza delle Erbe. If you ask us, start with these three.
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