The big advantage Verona has over other Italian cities
The minute we lay eyes on the Arena di Verona, it is impossible to resist.
As the afternoon grinds on, the heat in Verona becomes oppressive. In Italy these days, the summers are longer and hotter than ever, and by 2pm the humidity beats against the weary traveller like a drum.
We consult our phones for weather updates because tonight we are thinking of doing something special outdoors. The weather app remains optimistic: storms after midnight, perhaps. A 40 per cent chance of rain at 10pm. The odds are in our favour. So after checking into the beautiful Vista Palazzo hotel, we dig out our good clothes.
“Whatever you do in Verona, make sure you go to the opera,” we’d been told by our Italian friends, who a few weeks back had made the trek from the south to see La Traviata. “How often do you get to watch opera in a stadium older than the Colosseum?”
These words have been turning over in my head since, yet my fingers have been reluctant to hit “buy” on the tickets to tonight’s performance of Aida. I can’t explain why, except there have been storms at night. Will we get through the show?
But the minute we lay eyes on the Arena di Verona, it is impossible to resist. Our friends are right: how often does this chance come along? Then, decision made, a hurdle presents. We can’t crack the website selling the tickets. The site (arena.it) is showing a small amount of availability for the performance, but we keep failing at the purchase hurdle.
“Let us sort that out for you,” says the magnificent concierge at Vista Palazzo, waving away our sudden panic. “It can be tricky.” Within half an hour the tickets are in our hands, and good tickets too, close to the stage. It seems we’re committed.
And so as the Sun sets over the Arena – which was built in about 30AD, some four decades before the Colosseum in Rome – the strains of Verdi’s great tragedy float around us hauntingly and we know we’re in the midst of something completely magical: a night at the opera, Verona style.
Like many who love Italy, I have previously overlooked visiting Verona, not out of disdain but due to the abundance of options in a country with a surfeit of treasures.
Verona lives in the shadow of that other glittering jewel of the north, Venice; the great payoff for the Veronese being that their city remains low-key enough to absorb visitors without the maddening tourist crush you experience elsewhere in this much overloved country.
It is a city filled with exquisite attractions, from delightful squares to historic architecture, excellent galleries, coffee houses and restaurants.
Starting at the main plaza, Piazza delle Erbe, wander down side streets and alleys, and back and forth across the bridges that span the River Adige, to discover an abundance of Italian loveliness.
Roman ruins compete for attention with medieval statues and Renaissance palazzos, while cafes and shops bustle day and night. There is excellent shopping to be had, with an emphasis here on local northern Italian fashion and cookware.
You can wander, shop and eat, for this is a city where visitors can absorb the sites without having to feel pressure to tick off big-ticket tourist attractions.
You probably will want to see the sculpture of Juliet (or Giulietta in Italian) of Romeo & Juliet fame, located in a tiny square off Piazza delle Erbe. Make time too to visit the Palazzo Maffei Art Gallery at the top of the piazza, for it is a lovely private gallery filled with an amazing collection of art.
But, really, the only unmissable thing in Verona is the Arena.
Built to showcase gladiatorial contests, the Arena originally seated 30,000, and was coated in glittering pink-and-white limestone tiles until an earthquake in 1117 shook those off. Damaged but unbroken, the Arena continued to be used for events and theatre, even hosting jousting contests throughout the Middle Ages. In 1913, opera was introduced, with the first performance in the space being none other than Aida.
Today, visitors pour into the stadium through ancient arches that lead down darkened tunnels to their seats, exactly as Roman audiences would have done 2000 years ago.
Sit and marvel as the shadows lengthen and the sky is streaked with gold, pink and violet, and finally turns an inky blue spotted with a thousand stars.
As tonight’s performance starts, guests settle in for three hours of action across a huge stage populated with an enormous cast dressed in the most extraordinary array of costumes.
For two acts we are totally engrossed as the opera unfolds. Then, as the clock passes 10pm, a clap of thunder rings out behind the stadium. And then another. Huge, cold drops of rain start plopping over the audience.
We wonder whether to stay until the fat lady sings, or to decamp now. A check of the weather app shows it’s time to evacuate. Around us others pour like a river from the stadium.
As we run through the dark streets of Verona, the storm breaks over the fair city. Lightning flashes and rain tumbles down. And as we race to Vista Palazzo, our hair soaked, our clothes drenched, our shoes in our hands, we can’t stop laughing. This feels like the perfect melodramatic finale to a night we will remember forever.
Checklist
Check in: Hotel Vista Palazzo Verona, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World (slh.com) is one of the most romantic and exceptional hotels in Italy. Opened in April 2022, Verona’s first new five-star hotel in decades comprises 16 boutique suites that combine both modernity and Italian luxury. The rooms are colourful, plush, beautifully appointed and oversized, with huge marble bathrooms and luxe finishes.
During the property’s 2020 renovation, a Roman well was discovered in the basement. Renovators carefully excavated around the well, called the Well of Romeo, which can now be found behind glass in a below-ground space that also houses a gorgeous little pool and day spa. Head down to the basement not only for pampering but to see the ancient site. My favourite spot in this hotel is the rooftop bar, where you can take your morning (iced) coffee and a stylish Italian buffet breakfast (with pastries, fruit, small goods, Italian cakes and so on). The rooftop has an delightful alfresco aspect over Verona with its terracotta tiled roofs, churches and spires. It is the perfect way to start the day in this beautiful city.
The very pretty attic dining room just below the rooftop bar is another wonderful space to eat if the humid air outside is too much. You can also have sunset cocktails on the roof and why wouldn’t you? The staff at Vista Palazzo embody the philosophy of genteel European hospitality. Nothing is too much trouble, from buying tickets to booking transfers to advising on places to eat to organising walking tours of Verona (book in with Mariana, she will share with you all of Verona’s secrets). The location is excellent, being a few metres from the entrance to Piazza delle Erbe and close to the Giulietta statue, in an adorable standalone Renaissance building on a cobblestone street. Rates from €920 a night ($A1500) including breakfast. (verona.vistapalazzo.com/en/) Vista Palazzo has a glamorous sister hotel in Lake Como.
Tickets, please: The Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2024 runs June 7-September 1. Operas include Turandot, La Boheme, The Barber of Seville, Carmen and Tosca. One of this year’s feature operas is a recreation of the 1913 Aida production; also performing this year is Placido Domingo. Tickets from $54 (ours cost €130 each). arena.it/en
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