Verona is the setting, as everyone knows, for Romeo and Juliet. If you didn't know that before you came it wouldn't take you too long to work it out. There are R&J references everywhere, from the Romeo & Juliet restaurant to the Juliet macarons in the cake shop to countless Juliet souvenirs. Most of all there's Juliet's house. Di suggested it wasn't really Juliet's house, but hey, could a million tourists all be wrong? There in a small courtyard you find the very balcony where Romeo looked up and saw, not the sun but his true love, Juliet. Ahhh! So romantic is it that the walls of the lane into the courtyard are covered in band-aids bearing couples' names or initials and one wall of the courtyard has an iron grill covered with padlocks engraved with the names of loving couples.

Well we're not sure that there was a Romeo but apparently there was a Juliet Capulet on whom the play may have been based and there is her grave just outside of town.The rest of the story was a creation of WS.
Verona is another old city, with a wall, partly intact still, and a Roman Arena where operas like Aida are staged regularly. In fact the next occasion is the day after we're to leave!
The city has two castles, one at the top of a steep hill to the north and one on the south by the river. Yes, we climbed to the top of the hill to see the view from Castel San Pietro then down again much to the protest of my bad knees!

Juliet's balcony

Love padlocks in Juliet's garden

Crowds in Piazza Erbe

Verona from across the River Adige

Verona from Castel San Pietro

Verona Arena