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VERONA - ITALY
Verona (population est. 260,000), is an ancient town, an episcopal see and a
province in Veneto, Italy, on the shores of the Adige River and near to
those of the Lake Garda.
History
Its origins are supposed of Etruscan influences, but the first historical
news are from the 4th century BC. It became a notable center during the
Roman Age, of relevant political and commercial weight .
Verona was flooded in 1239 and quite entirely soon rebuilt. Verona
reached the apogee of its influence in the 14th century as the seat of power
of the della Scala family (also know as the Scaligeri).
Monuments
Roman monuments
Verona is famous for its Roman amphitheatre, the Arena where opera is now
performed in the summer months. The Arena (whose shape and use immediately
recall the Roman Colosseum) was built around the half of the 1st century CE
on a site which at the time was out of the urban walls. The ludii (shows and
games) played in it were so famous that spectators came to Verona for them
from many other (sometimes very distant) places. The amphitheatre could host
more than 30,000 spectators, and the most requested events were gladiators'
fights (against lions too). The round façade was originally in white and
pink limestone from Valpolicella, but during the Middle Ages the Arena was
used as a sort of quarry for other buildings. The first interventions to
recover its functionality as a theatre were started during the Renaissance.
But other Roman monuments too are in the town, like the Roman theatre, built
in the 1st century BC and retrieved in the 18th century CE thanks to Andrea
Monga, a wealthy Veronese who bought all the houses that in time had been
built over the theatre, demolished them and saved the monument. Verona hosts
indeed one of the richest collections of Roman remains of all Northern Italy.
The Arco dei Gavi (Gavi Arch), dedicated to the important Roman family of
the Gavii, was built in the same 1st century CE, and is famous for having
the name of the builder (architect Lucius Vitruvius Cordone) engraved on it,
a really rare case in the architecture of the epoque. It had been demolished
by the French troops in 1805 and was rebuilt in 1932.
Medieval monuments
The Saint Zeno Basilica (San Zeno) is a masterpiece of Romanesque
architecture. It was rebuilt in 1117 on the remains of an older church,
following from an earthquake.
Romeo and Juliet
Verona is the setting to which Luigi da Porto's Istoria novellamente
ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti moved the fictional story of Romeo and Juliet.
(Masuccio Salernitano had not specified Verona as the setting in his
treatment of the story in his Il Novelino (1476).) Da Porto's story was
taken up and included by Matteo Bandello in his Novelle of 1554, and
versified by Arthur Brooke, whose narrative poem "Tragicall Historye of
Romeus and Juliet", written in 1562, was the source for Shakespeare's Romeo
and Juliet, a work which describes the tragic love of a boy and a girl from
the Capuleti (Capulet) and the Montecchi (Montague) families, rivals in
Verona in the 13th and 14th century. A balcony, falsely claiming historical
connection to the fictional lovers, has become a tourist attraction for
lovers nowadays, with tons of love graffiti beneath it.
Famous Veronese
Girolamo Fracastoro also known by his Latin name Fracastorius - renowned
scholar, physician and poet
Other information
Verona was the birthplace of Catullus, Vitruvius, and the town that Julius
Caesar selected for his relaxing stays. In its history many important names
passed and events happened that were relevant for the European history, like
Theodoric the Great, king of Ostrogoths, Alboin and Rosamunda, the Lombard
Dukes, Charlemagne and Pippin of Italy, Berengar I, Dante. Conclaves were
held here, as were important congresses. Verona was in the travel diaries of
Goethe, Stendhal, Paul Valéry.
Its Natural history museum contains one of the most valuable collections of
fossils and archaeological remains of Europe.
The colors of the city are the yellow and the blue.
The town has two soccer teams, now both in the highest division of the
Italian championship: Chievo Verona and Hellas Verona A.C..
Things from Verona (and sometimes people) are called Veronese, but this can
be confusing because 'Veronese' was also the last name of the famous artist,
Paolo Veronese (and so he is often called that) .
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