Inside Verona Cathedral | Photo by Robert Königshausen ()
Italy is much, much more than Venice and Rome. Here is some inspiration for making the most of your time in northern Italy.
Verona: city of opera and Romeo and Juliet.
The arena is an old Roman amphitheater, built around 30 AD and older than the colosseum in Rome. For opera fans, visiting an audition, which has been performed here since 1913, is a must.
Shakespeare set his drama, “Romeo and Juliet,” in Verona. The residence of the Del Cappello dynasty was declared as Juliet’s house: Casa del Giuletta, which you can visit in Via Cappello. Step out on the balcony for a picture or leave a love-letter on the wall. The balcony was installed in 1931 and formerly part of a sarcophagus.
Verona Cathedral is probably the most visited attraction. Built around 1187 in Romanesque style, there’s a lot hidden inside. It is a gothic church with plenty of Renaissance decor along with the baptistery from the early Middle Ages.
San Zeno Maggiore: There are several legends about Zeno, a Saint from Northern Africa, who was bishop of Verona in the 4th century. One story claims Zeno won a baptism pool for the city of Verona from the devil who left scratches in it because of the hard work. The building is mostly from the 12th century and has been kept in it original state. There’s a big crypt you can visit with Zeno’s grave in it. The old fresco paintings are still on the walls – mostly in bad condition but untouched.
Ravenna : city at the end of the Roman Empire
This little town was the last capital to the Roman Empire, the bridgehead of the Byzantine, capital of Theoderich and his Ostrogoth Empire and never destroyed. Therefore, a number of mosaics of the 5th and 6th century AD have survived in a clearly different style as anywhere else – simply because hardly anything else from this time has survived in Western Europe.
All the mosaics are still shining as if time had never passed. See Jesus as a shepherd, saints with friendly faces, a great number of animal and plant motif and mosaic-covered floors.
Po River Delta: birdwatching HQ
If you like birdwatching the saline of Comacchio is for you. See a great variety of birds, big and small. Make sure to come before the migratory birds leave and you can see a great number of herons and even flamingoes!
Pomposa Abbey: a painted masterpiece
Founded around 800 AD on an island in the marsh but now landlocked and abandoned. The inside of the church is completely painted. It’s surrounded by a great number of rice-fields. Around 1040 AD it was led by Guido of Arezzo – famous for inventing the very first gamut and revolutionizing the history of music. Be there at noon and you can listen to the church bells playing a nice tune.
Bologna: city with a unique church
San Petronio is a remarkable church and the 5th biggest in the world. Napoleon’s sister is buried here. Charles V was crowned emperor here in 1530 governing Germany, Spain and the Spanish colonies in Latin America. He noted that the sun never set in his empire.
Most unusual is a long meridian, 66.8m long, installed by Giandomenico Cassini in 1655. Sunlight comes through a hole in the ceiling marked with sun rays around it onto this line. Every day the sun’s irradiation is different, so this line works as a calendar proving the planet’s movement.
