Fair Verona

VERONA!! i had doubted whether or not going to Verona was going to be worth it because I had seen a lot of places that Verona was a bit of a tourist trap because of the Romeo and Juliet things, but two things had me holding out hope. The first was when The Unknown Chef went to Vinitaly and was posting a million pictures while he was there and responded to me on Instagram telling me to make sure that I go.. and the second was Jen telling me that we were going because it was great and, while touristy, amazing because it has so so so much history.

Verona is second to Bassano del Grappa on my favorite places in Italy. The history of the city, the Roman, Austrian and Italian influences, the everything. We followed the ever pleasant Rick Steves' tour from his Italy book to see the main sites in the city and then wandered around in between.

The main street when you enter Verona is blocked off so that only the city maintenance vehicles can drive through it, as history states that the main walkway was meant for the strolling of the upper class folks and it was closed off after traffic in the area got too bad to enjoy the GIGANTIC sidewalk. In Verona, the only people allowed to drive are the locals, if you drive to the city, you have to park on the outskirts and walk into the city. It was kind of nice because there weren't people driving everywhere and made it way easier to walk.

This city is amazing. It dates back to the Roman empire and there are ruins all over the city. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of the Roman city underneath the current city. Along with Roman history, it was also part of Austria, as was a lot of northern Italy, for a long time before the Venetians took back over. There is a lot of World War 2 history here as well. There is a coliseum left over from the Romans that is still mainly intact. It's two levels high currently and there are sections of the third level still standing. It's pretty cool.

We tagged along with a tour group for a little bit because the guide was amazing and new a ton about the city that Rick didn't add in his book. We found out about Dante, who was from Verona, that Shakespeare actually spent time in Verona because the details he wrote about are too accurate with Veronan history for them to be completely made up.

Apparently, there are a ton of people who don't know that Romeo and Juliet is a story and it's not real? Either way, Verona has done a great job in capitalizing on his play and how it wove into the city. The "Capulet" family was based on the "Cappello" family, the hatmakers and their house in the story is believed to be based on the houses on via Cappello. The city has a courtyard that is dedicated to "Juliet" and it has a balcony and a setting that could have easily been what Shakespeare based the famous balcony scene on.

We tagged along with a tour group for a little bit because the guide was amazing and new a ton about the city that Rick didn't add in his book. We found out about Dante, who was from Verona, that Shakespeare actually spent time in Verona because the details he wrote about are too accurate with Veronan history for them to be completely made up.

Apparently, there are a ton of people who don't know that Romeo and Juliet is a story and it's not real? Either way, Verona has done a great job in capitalizing on his play and how it wove into the city. The "Capulet" family was based on the "Cappello" family, the hatmakers and their house in the story is believed to be based on the houses on via Cappello. The city has a courtyard that is dedicated to "Juliet" and it has a balcony and a setting that could have easily been what Shakespeare based the famous balcony scene on.

We walked around the city, got pastries, saw different monuments and things, saw the huge tombs of the Scaligeri family who were so good at asserting their power that they changed the laws to make sure they could be buried inside the city and this super awesome bridge called Ponte Pietra. It was an original marble bridge built by the Romans that was bombed in WWII. The Veronans salvaged as much of the marble as they could to rebuild the bridge, filling in the empty spaces with brick. It is truly stunning.

We ended our tour of Verona at Castelvecchio. The castle was built in the 14th century and made me feel like I was in Redwall or had instantly gone back in history. I could go on forever about Verona because I loved it so much. I can't wait to go back.

venezia.

Venice is amazing. There is no shortage of things to see, streets to get lost on and bridges to cross.

For those of you that don't know, I have a huge fear of open water. Yes, I can swim and I know that the Lincoln Tunnel in New York went under water. No, I don't know why, I just don't like it one bit and I don't want to talk about the irrationality of it. Additionally, there are two parts of Venice. One that is part of the mainland of Italy, the other that is a serious of islands connected by bridges and water ways. The cooler, more known part of Venice is the islandy part. In order to get there, you either drive, boat or take the train across the water to the island. Luckily, I have awesome friends who completely distract me so that I don't freak out when I realize that I'm on a train that appears to be choo-choo-ing its way across the top of the water ready to sucked into the ocean at any time. See what I mean?! Instant worst case scenario in my head and I'm not even there anymore.

Now that my lovely fear and the islands of Venice have been described, here comes the beauty of the city. Monday night, Jen and I decided to go to Venice on Tuesday and Verona on Wednesday because we both agreed that the possibility of rain and open water wasn't going to be the best mix for me and it wasn't supposed to rain on Tuesday. Good idea us! We got up and got to the train station around 9ish and headed the hour or so to Venice. The train ride was nice and we got there quickly. When we got to Venice, it wasn't too crowded so we decided to head toward St. Mark's before all the other cruises and tourists got there and bombarded the island. This is when I noticed something really cool. Italy is full of inter-Italian tourism. There were bunches of Italians with maps and cameras visiting for the day. It's a decent sized country with a ton of things to see, so I can only imagine how many more times I will need to go back to see everything! (ha, see what i did there?!)

Walking through the streets, its so easy to get lost, but no matter what, you'll have to cross bridges and walkways and as long as you follow the signs that have been put up, you'll find your way to the major things among the islands. We reached St. Mark's and were greeted by less people than we anticipated and amazing sunshine allowing for great pictures. The line to see the inside of the church was already hundreds of people long, so we passed on seeing the inside and took a bajillion pictures of people, pigeons and architecture. The church and piazza were beautiful, the water and sky was so clear. Venice is everything that I ever wished it could be.

The bridges were beautiful and its amazing how these buildings and things were built atop tiny islands that are now sinking and have crazy things that are now under water. There are parts of buildings that are not underground. How freaking cool is that?! Honestly! There are so many things under the surface in Italy and I wish I could see them all! For me, the coolest part of Venice was the Ghetto and seeing the history of the city. I'm out of words for Venice. It was just beautiful, see?