The home of Romeo and Juliet an expensive city maketh

Fair Verona is a lovely northern Italian town.
A couple of hours on a slow train from ridiculously expensive Venice and a couple of hours from the apparent gastronomic delights of Modena, we decided to make this pretty Shakespearean worshipping city our base for a bit of exploration of the Veneto and Emilia Romagna regions.

But first, lets turn to those star-crossed lovers that (let’s face it) are complete fiction and have completely taken over the otherwise charming town of Verona.
At the risk of sounding a bit too “bah humbug” about all this, we paid our €12, got our Verona card, visited the Casa del Guilietta, touched the left breast of her bronze statue that’s supposed to bring luck (how this works when the statue was only installed in 1972 we’re still not sure), had a photo on her balcony and even went to her tomb.
And on the way we saw thousands of tourists who are clearly devoted to the theme.
It’s interesting, because the Romeo and Juliet shtick this town has got going clearly attracts the crowds, but there’s no doubt, Verona is a fabulous place to visit on its own merits (thanks all the same Will Shakespeare).
We loved the Roman Amphitheatre – the third biggest in the world seating 20,000 people. It’s smack bang in the centre of town and is actually Verona’s open air opera house.
We adored the Castelvecchio (ancient fortress) with its crenellated walls and views out over the river Adige, not to mention its wonderful art, fresco and statue collection.
We also ate exceptionally well in Verona (I’m sure you’re all shocked at that). Sure, it was more expensive than we are maybe used to, but this is northern Italy after all and we even got to sample polenta (which in English they unappetizingly describe as rice porridge).

Our first day trip from Verona was of course to Venice.
There are no superlatives that have not already been used to describe that extraordinary city.
For us it was an important trip to make some new pleasant memories of a place that wasn’t much fun last time we were there (January 1999, accommodation at a bleak campsite on Mestre where we were stranded for half of our three day stay because either it was Sunday and the bus didn’t run or it was too foggy to get the boat across to Venice).
This time around, the sun was shinning, the canals sparkling and the tourists out in force. We had a quick look at Piazza San Marco then got as far away from the other tourists as possible, strolled around, got lost and went to the ghetto area.
We also sampled a drink called a Spritz (forget the Bellini, this is the typical drink of the Veneto), which is now our new favourite aperitivo.
It’s prosecco, a dash of bitters (campari or aperol) and topped up with soda water. Served with an olive garnish.


Our second day trip was to Modena. Just as Perugia is the home of Baci chocolates, Modena is the home of balsamic vinegar.
It also has a very pretty old town, and a tower that leans (yep, like Pisa, but a couple of degrees less).
Arriving at Modena we planned to climb the tower, visit a couple of the apparently very impressive buildings and see the Town Hall before buying some balsamic vinegar (for you dear brother) and then perhaps sipping some Lambrusco (yes, don’t laugh this is an expensive, respected wine in The Veneto) before wandering around a bit more.
The reality of Modena was a bit different.
We arrived. Made it to the Old City. Had a coffee. Found the tourist office, where the woman silently handed us a map which apparently meant we should be on our way.
We visited the cathedral (very nice) and then went to present ourselves for tower climbing duties (we love a tower, actually we love anything that involves climbing and a view).
But we became a bit confused when we (at first) couldn’t find the door to the tower climb, and then (finally) found the door but discovered it was locked.
Back to the tourist office where the unapologetic woman there told us all tourist sites in Modena ONLY open on Sundays. Okay then, not that much for us to do.
We then walked around the very small city three times (during one circuit we located the synagogue) and then picked an argument with each other because there was nothing else to do.
The argument settled (it wasn’t interesting either) we found a bar, drank some lambrusco at 12.05pm and then went to look at the Balsamic vinegar shop.
The vinegars looked good, but there is apparently no saving to buying aged balsamic in Modena as opposed to Australia so …. Sorry Jas, no vinegar.
Maybe next time, if we go back on a Sunday and feel a bit more inspired (but let’s face it, probably not gonna happen).