It says it all, doesn’t it?
I’m sure now you’re probably expecting me to tell you about the Arena, Piazza delle Erbe, miss Capulet’s residence, Castelvecchio, the Scaliger Tombs, the Roman Theatre, the Giardino Giusti, the Lamberti Tower, and I am sure a ‘few’ more sites that are listed as the most xx number of places you must absolutely visit when in Verona.
But no, I won’t bore you with details that you can easily find in any travel guide or, even less expensive, on Google. No, I wanted to bring your attention to something you can see only if you walk in its streets with your nose up in the air.
So, while you reach all these famous sites, I encourage you to look up and take in the beauty of Verona’s balconies.
Start with Piazza delle Erbe for example, where you could easily imagine yourself amongst the bourgeoisie that had nothing more pressing to do than what we, in Italy, call ‘vasche’, term that would normally translate into bathtubs but that in this case means promenade.
Now head to the arch that leads to the Lamberti Tower, but before you pass it look at the balcony right next to it, on your left. It’s crooked, and for that reason it’s one of my favourites!
Oh and there’s another on the opposite side of the square, a tall tower with lovely little balconies and arched windows. The building itself is not much of a beauty, but it is so very charming and old, it screams history, doesn’t it?
This is the city of Romeo and Juliet, their balcony is most probably the most famous balcony in literature, so I’ll let you in on a very romantic story that took place during our first lockdown, on March 17th 2020 to be precise.
This is the story of Paola and Michele, neighbours forever but that never really exchanged a word.
This is the time when songs were sang and played on balconies, when that was the only real human experience we could have, and Verona has very narrow streets, it must have felt pretty intimate. Paola lived on the sixth floor while Michele lived on the 7th floor of the opposite building.
They started chatting one day and they fell in love!
Oh and nobody died in this story, I checked, just in case.
So what is your experience of Verona? Let me know in the comments, I’m a sucker for unusual stories!