In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…

Ahh… Verona, the setting of Romeo and Juliet. It makes the place seem so romantic – unless you’re being forced to study it as a school student!

Written by Michael Turtle

Michael Turtle is the founder of Time Travel Turtle. A journalist for more than 20 years, he's been travelling the world since 2011.

Michael Turtle is the founder of Time Travel Turtle and has been travelling full time for a decade.

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Verona, Italy

Until recently, my knowledge of Verona was limited purely to the many hours as a teenager being forced to study Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Any beauty in the city that could have been imagined was always tempered by the adolescent resentment of the schoolwork.

World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy

To visit Verona as an adult and be free of burden of essays and exams felt like discovering it anew. In tribute, it felt like a prologue of that experience was necessary.

World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy

Two hours spent, both a like of the city
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From school begrudge break to new scrutiny,
Where civilian eyes makes civic lands unseen.
From forth the fatal lines that once were foes
A place of stars, crosses and love brings new life;
And Verona adventure overthrows
That feel of death buried under study’s strife.
The near-full passages flow free with mark’d love,
And the ancient buildings show a romance age,
Which, but the tourist crowd, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ sightsee of this stage;
The which if you with patient eyes attend,
What’s once remiss, some photos shall strive to mend.

World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy
World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy
World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy
World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy
World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy
World Heritage Site of Verona, Italy

If you would like to explore more of the history of Verona, there are some great tours here:

 
UNESCO logo

This site is on the UNESCO World Heritage List!
I'm on a mission to visit as many World Heritage Sites as I can. Only about 800 more to go... eek!

21 thoughts on “In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…”

    • The big cities in Italy (like Rome and Milan) are quite dirty but I found most of the smaller ones in the northern part of the country to be quite well-maintained.
      Sadly I didn’t get into the Roman Arena because it was closed so they could film a commercial in there!

      Reply
  1. It must have been nice to see Verona, after all it will really carry you to the time when you were introduced to the timeless play. Add to that the fact that the place is really enchanting.

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  2. I very much enjoyed your presentation of Verona, a beautiful Italian city I’ve yet to visit, but will. I’ve been only to Rome. I will search your articles in hopes of finding you in a small mountain village or two, like: Vietri di Potenza, Basilicata, and even smaller, Taranta Peligna, Abruzzo. They are the birthplaces of my grandmother and grandfather where I will visit in the not too distant future.
    Many thanks for taking us around the world with you!

    Reply
    • Thanks, Ron. Unfortunately I didn’t get to any of the places you’ve mentioned. There are so many small villages in Italy and each as beautiful as the next. It would take years to see it all properly, I think. Hopefully you get a chance to spend a bit of time there at some point.

      Reply
  3. There is a lot of stuff going around about Italy at the moment. Wondering if it is the new hot destination for summer 2012. Certainly got a lot of history and culture.

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  4. What a cool poem. Even if you didn’t like Shakespeare, you seem to have acquired at least some of his art.

    Verona looks neat. We have been through the train station, but not much more. I took my parents to Italy a few years ago and we went to Pisa. It felt a little like this in that the one site overcame all the tourists and the rest of town was really pretty cool, yet ignored.

    Reply
    • I suppose ‘acquiring’ Shakespeare’s art is one way to put it. ‘Blatantly ripping him off’ would probably be more accurate 🙂

      And in regards to Verona, the train station isn’t particularly exciting. You’ve got to check out the whole place sometime!

      Reply
  5. Wow! This is my city 🙂 Thanx to visit it! 🙂
    Did you discover the hill up the City? 🙂 is good to take perfect shot of landscape 🙂

    Reply

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