Verona
Verona
Where Romeo met Juliet
Take a holiday to Verona in northern Italy to experience a beautiful city in which you can truly imagine Shakespeare’s most romantic play still taking place. Verona is known as little Rome in deference to the city’s importance during the 13th and 14th centuries. This was the age of family feuding under the ruling Scaligeri family, the backdrop to the Bard’s tale of the pain of young love.
The city was one of the prime cornerstones of the Roman Empire, and your holiday to Verona should take in the many Roman ruins preserved there.
The city grew in importance due to its position at the intersection of many ancient roads, and for many years was considered the seat of the Italian government. In 1630 Verona fell foul of plague, with over 60% of its residents dying from the disease. Between 1798 and 1866 Verona was controlled by the Austrian Empire before returning to Italian rule following the Six Weeks War, and has been part of Italy ever since.
Getting to Italy for your Verona holiday can be done either by air or road. Verona has one major airport, Catullo, which located eight miles or so from the city. Driving to Verona isn’t difficult at all from all parts of mainland Europe. As with most of the built-up areas of Italy, driving within the city is not recommended due to congestion and parking issues. Travelling by foot or bus is much preferable.
A Verona holiday is mainly one of sight-seeing and relaxation. Verona is a peaceful place in comparison to the hectic pace of Rome or Milan, and never becomes overstuffed with tourists.
Verona’s most impressive sight is the Arena, an incredible Roman amphitheatre built two thousand years ago and still in use today. If you are holidaying in Verona at the right time of year you should be able to take in an opera there.
For a more modern nod to the Shakespeare connection during your holiday in Verona you should take a look at the Casa di Giulietta, supposedly the location of the talismanic balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. The courtyard is often full of teenage sweethearts photographing themselves, tenderly forgetting the fact the characters were entirely fictitious and the balcony was only added in 1936. If you prefer your sight-seeing to be more grounded in reality Verona has an excellent range of castles, gardens and art museums all worthy of your perusal.
For accommodation during your Verona holiday you can expect the range of options you’d find in any major European destination, from top class hotels to captivating B&Bs, holiday farms and youth hostels. One word of warning though, for twelve weeks between June and September each year it is Opera season in Verona and finding “on the spot” accommodation in the City during this period will involve a lot of walking and fruitless phone calls, so booking in advance is essential.
Another important note is to know that when you see cavallo on a restaurant menu it is referring to horse-meat. This is a Veronese favourite that tourists from other parts of the world may find unpalatable.
A Verona holiday will see you enjoy the sights, sounds and history of a beautiful and romantic city. Book your holiday to Verona for a tranquil and memorable experience of life in Italy.
Discover Italy
Fresh pasta, pizzas and good wine are the first things that come to mind when someone says Italy but, then again, I’m partial to really nice food. To others, Italy will be about heritage, culture and customs that date back to before the Romans…I think neither is read more »
- Robert Gerstmeyer |
- April 15, 2013
- Showing 1 - 2 of 2 Verona Client ReviewsMilano | Verona | Reviewed 11 Jun 2020
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for organising our trip to Verona last weekend. This was a very emotive trip for my wife & I, as it was our first trip to Italy since my wife's cancer diagnosis 2 years ago. Italy is without a doubt our favourite place on the planet and we were not sure if she would see it again. Thanks to you, she has regained, what I call her Italian smile, it came across her face the minute we touched down. Money cannot pay for that smile!The hotel at Gatwick was literally a 2 minute bus ride from the airport, front row seats on the flight over and chauffeur driven limo to meet us at the airport was an amazing start to the weekend. When you said we were staying in a 3 star hotel, I was, if I'm honest, a little nervous, generally speaking, 3 star hotels in Italy means you are sleeping in a cow shed. Not at the Hotel Milano, what an amazing hotel, slap bang in the centre of Verona, with views of the arena, excellent breakfast, towels changed twice daily, good size bedrooms and very comfortable beds! The air con worked superbly, which was just as well with temperatures in the 30's every day. Thank you for making this trip memorable for both of us.
by Mike
Sittingbourne, KentCassone | Verona | Reviewed 06 May 2014
Dear JackieI just wanted to say thank you for booking our holiday to Italy for a friend’s wedding. I was a bit nervous as was travelling alone with my daughter, and therefore without my husband for this holiday. You found us the perfect hotel (hotel Cassone, nr Malcesine) within an hour of me giving you the go ahead to book, plus flights at perfect flying times for us. As we were booking flights and hotel separately i.e. not a package holiday, we didn’t have transfers included so you kindly researched how we could travel from the airport – either bus and train, 2 buses or private taxi. As we had all the information to hand I was confident with us taking the 2 bus option and saving us a fortune from booking a private taxi. It was really easy – we just picked up the Aerobus from the airport which took us into Verona (20 mins) and then we got another bus to Malcesine (1 and ¾ hours). While on this journey, we realised the bus went through Cassone, so asked the driver, and amazingly the bus stopped right outside our hotel entrance!Thanks for advising about the City tax which would be required to be paid on check out and for advising roughly how much. No surprises then while we were away – it was only 7 Euros, but it was good to know about this in advance. Thank you also for emailing the hotel to request a 1st floor room as having read the reviews, the first floor rooms had either a balcony or terrace which was fab as we had a first floor room when arrived, so we spent quite a lot of time on the terrace – the sun was on the terrace from about 11.30am every day and was lovely. Thanks also for checking us in for our flights, booking meals on the flights, and booking specific seats with extra legroom – (and I was pretty awkward as get claustrophobic) and sorting all the Additional Passenger Information requirements too.Not only did you sort all that, you checked we had arrived safely and everything was okay and also checked we had arrived home safely too. You definitely go the extra mile for your clients.All in all we had a fantastic holiday – while there, we attended a lovely wedding of a great friend who I’ve not seen in years. The wedding was at Malcesine castle, followed by canapés and champagne by the harbour, and then a 30 minute boat ride to Val di Sogno for the wedding reception, meal and dancing. It was beautiful and an amazing location. We then just chilled for the rest of the holiday. Lake Garda is beautiful, and I enjoyed walking along the side of the lake to get supplies from a supermarket. It was about a 4.5km round trip and was so peaceful, sunny, and picturesque. I intend to return at some point in the near future with my husband as it will be the perfect holiday for us – great for couples. Here are a couple of pics from my walks along the lakeside….If anybody wants to have the hassle of sourcing and booking a holiday taken off them, then I would highly recommend them to book with you – they will be thrilled as I was (and this is the second time that we have used your services as you booked our cottage holiday to Scotland last year). You are highly professional and efficient and make sure that the client has all the information to make sure that they have a wonderful holiday.Thank you Jackie.
by Fiona
Sheffield, SheffieldWrite a Review