Day #272 - Verona, Vicenza & Padova, Italy

Bridge in Verona

Romeo & Juliet's Balcony

Statue of Juliet

Scrovegni Chapel - Padova

Teatra Olimpico - Vicenza

Saturday, December 11th

This morning I started out of Parma at 7:50am bound for Verona, Italy - arrival time around 11am. I had to take 3 trains to make it happen, but everything worked out well.

Verona is located between Milan and Venice. Actually, all 3 towns I visited today are on the same train line between these 2 cities. Milan - Verona - Vicenza - Padova - Venice. If you take the fast train, it will generally only stop in these 3 locations, and take 2-1/2 hours from point to point.

I'm staying in Verona right now. Really a cool city. I just came back from walking around the outdoor markets of the central square. It was great atmosphere. Saturday night, 10pm, stands filled with food, and all kinds of merchandise. I made a couple purchases - all good. I spent some of the late morning here as well before daytripping to Vicenza and Padova. Verona is fairly big, with a population of over 700,000 people. It has the Arena - an outdoor Roman amphitheatre completed around 30 AD. It's the 3rd largest in Italy - behind Rome's Colisseum and the arena in Capua. Another interesting site was the castle that overlooked the river. The arch bridge Ponte Scaligero, built in 1356, crosses the river from the castle.

And finally, one of the claims to fame for Verona, Italy - the setting for Romeo & Juliet. This was classic. I had no clue where this place was located - so I couldn't just stroll up to any dude and ask the quesstion. So, I spot the friendliest-looking lady in this outdoor market. I went up and bought an apple and said: "Ummm - where's this Romeo & Juliet place?". She just smiled and pointed me down a street: "It's number 23 on the left".

I saunter may way down the street. You walk through this archway into this small plaza. Saturday afternoon - the place was packed. They had the balcony, as the residence of the Capullets. People were walking out on the balcony and taking pictures. They also have a bronze statue of Juliet in this small plaza. Legend goes that you must rub the right breast of Juliet to bring you luck in love. This was great people watching - one of the funnier things I've seen on the trip to date. People would line up to get their picture taken with their hand on the breast. You saw people embarrassingly stroll up to the statue, then others would have no inhibitions whatsoever. Then, there were a couple of guys (no doubt several cocktails in), who took it 2-3 steps further. Did I touch the breast? Well, actually, no - on grounds I would have looked like a major pervert under the conditons that presented itself. It's all fun and funny with a group. I should have done it - it would have made for great TV.

Onward to Padova. I spent the least amount of time in this city. Just enough to walk the main street and go tour the Scrovegni Chapel. This is a 13th century chapel famous for it's frescoes. Giotti, the same artist that painted the frescoes in Assisi, lays claim to this work. 38 scenes - depicting the life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

Onward to Vicenza. I spent some time here just walking the streets of Corso Palladio It was late afternoon, around 5pm. The streets were packed with people. Great atmosphere. At the end of the busy street was the Teatro Olimpico. This is a famous theatre built in 1580. It looks like some sort of castle. Plays are still held here today. My book states that it's a pretty big ticket.

I trained back to Verona where I hit the markets. It's about 1am now, I have a 9am train to Munich tomorrow. I say Farewell to Italy. Great country. Certainly, it can be enhanced by your company and the time of season. But, regardless, it's an excellent place with alot of variety. I clearly see why it's ranked so highly - it deserves the accolodes.