Looking at a map, the cities of Verona, Padua and Venice cluster together in a neat line, just inviting you to visit each in turn. Surely Shakespeare must have done just that, prior to writing his many plays set in those cities? After all, tourists flock to the Juliet balcony in Verona; there must be documented evidence that this balcony, amongst the hundreds of beautiful balconies in the city, was visited by the playwright and provided the actual inspiration for the famous scene – right? Well, no. In fact, there is huge debate over whether Shakespeare even wrote many of those plays, let alone visited the cities which inspired them. It seems more likely that by setting a play in Italy, the writer was simply giving shorthand to an Elizabethan audience for the themes of romance, passion, violence found within the plays.
So it was that we found ourselves, along with hundreds of others, looking at a real balcony, which had never seen a fictional girl utter a made up line, which even the real author of the scene may never have seen! Curious really.
Despite that, Verona enchanted us. We loosely follow the walking tour suggested by Delightfully Italy which takes in the main sites in a manageable way. The Arena is being cleared of stage setting from a performance the night before and we are reminded of Memento Park in Hungary as we watch the massive props being dismantled – it’s quite the feat. But not quite as astounding as the crane action which mesmerises us at the top of the Torre de Lamberti. Quite how the crane came into position in these tiny streets is anyone’s guess. We can only imagine how much their insurance must be!
Later we get our first authentic taste of Italy at the Osteria Il Punto Rosa. Wild boar stew for Ben and duck for Beck – both are delicious. If we were staying here the night we would definitely return. However, instead we are staying at a cute and cosy AirBnB which is perfectly placed between all three Veneto cities and is also highly recommended (if you have a car).
Day two in this part of Italy sees us heading to Venice. Both Verona and Venice remind us weirdly of Rajasthan; the faded grandeur of buildings which are now crumbling but which still retain the ghost of splendour past combined with infrastructure which is unable to cope with the volume of visitors wishing to come – both regions are victims of own success but both are still amazing places to visit. Coincidentally only the next day, the Guardian runs an article on the possibility of Venice losing its UNESCO World Heritage status – it would be a tragedy if it did. We fit in visits to both the Basilica San Marco, marvelling at the amazing mosaic ceiling (but not so much at the reliquary of human bones – if I’m honest, this turns my stomach a bit – even if they are saintly bones!) and to the Doge’s Palace, each room covered in amazing, vibrant frescos. We’d definitely recommend paying the extra to visit the Museum in the Basilica, if only to get an eye level view of the mosaics.
We head to a bar for Chiccheti, little snacks which you have with a drink at the bar, but to be honest the experience confirms all my prejudices about tapas – there’s never enough and you end up spending more than a full sit down meal! The surly bar man doesn’t help matters but we forgive him when a trio of America tourists enter, one of whom doesn’t want to drink anything (why come to a bar) and another starts quizzing the barman on the decor. The non-drinker then starts asking her companion to further question the poor barman; “ask him this… ask him that” – it seems she cannot talk directly to the Italian! We now kind of get why the guy might be less than pleased when tourists walk through his door.
Our visit coincides with Biennale and we consider taking in the Damien Hirst’s, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable but we are done in with the heat by now. So instead we take a trip on the Grand Canal courtesy of the Vaporetto and take in some of the art(?) works.
In the evening we finally get to sample the vintage champagne we brought with us courtesy of Lee & Dawn for Ben’s 40th birthday – it’s the first time we’ve had access to a fridge long enough to chill it down properly, and the garden of the loft is the perfect setting.
So on to Padua, our final Veneto city for this trip – we opt to visit the Botanical Gardens rather than another basilica, tower or monument, and it’s a great choice. These were the first Botanical Gardens in the world and the various green houses have a wealth of informative and engaging exhibits in English. It makes a change from the panels we have encountered elsewhere which, to be honest, have been pretty dire! Padua feels like more of a ‘lived in’ city than either Verona or Venice and it is nice to see normal life going on.