Verona
The setting of Shakespeare's famous, fictional play Romeo and Juliet, Verona is often referred to as 'Italy's Little Rome' due to its rich history. Old Verona is packed with interesting buildings and squares, being surrounded by lengthy city walls and relatively simple to navigate your way around. Historical highlights include the Arena di Verona, the 18th-century Piazza Bra and its many surrounding palaces, together with its beautiful Renaissance garden, the Giardino Giusti, where it is reputed that Mozart used to enjoy a stroll. Verona is a wealthy and beautiful city and tourists will find that this status is very much reflected in its extravagant landmarks and public squares. The historical Piazza delle Erbe is one such square and today serves as a lively marketplace, complete with 14th-century fountain.

The area surrounding Verona offers a wealth of opportunities to those prepared to travel a little. It is a small city and is located just 10 miles away from Lake Garda and 75 miles away from Venice. Lake Garda is without doubt one of Italy's most magnificent lakes and you will find green, pretty hills, and beaches large and small. This wonderful setting is complemented by tiny borgoes with typical, colored houses and magnificent villas, emblem of an old and gracious prosperity. Also close to Verona is the Heritage Site of Vicenza, the medieval town of Mantova, and the valley of Valpolicella, where wine tasting is almost obligatory.

Discover Verona
Verona often gets overlooked by visitors en route to nearby Venice or the majestic Dolomite Mountains, but if you stop and explore this Italian city, you'll be richly rewarded with its ancient treasures. Walking is an ideal way to explore Verona's Old Town, because its medieval palaces, towers and busy piazzas are located in close proximity to each other. While Verona's cobblestone streets are picturesque, they can be hard on your feet. Wear comfortable shoes!

Tourist Office Verona
Via degli Alpini 9, Verona 14, Verona, Tel. 045 806 8680

Verona Card
If you want to visit more than one tourist attraction in Verona, you'll usually save money and time by buying a Verona Card, an all-inclusive ticket to most attractions, museums, and churches as well as free bus transportation. Verona Cards are good for 24 or 48 hours after the first use, depending on which card you buy.

The essentials of Verona
1) Piazza delle Erbe
2) Arena di Verona
3) Piazza Bra
4) Lake Garda
5) Castelvecchio

Piazza delle Erbe
Originally a Roman forum, Piazza delle Erbe is ringed with buzzing cafes and some of Verona’s most sumptuous buildings, including the elegantly baroque Palazzo Maffei , which now houses several shops at its northern end. Just off the piazza, the monumental arch known as the Arco della Costa is hung with a whale’s rib. Legend holds that the rib will fall on the first just person to walk beneath it. So far, it remains intact, despite visits by popes and kings.

Piazza Bra
Piazza Bra, often shortened to Bra, is the largest piazza in Verona, Italy, with some claims that it is the largest in the country. The piazza is lined with numerous cafés and restaurants, along with several notable buildings.

Lake Garda
Poets and politicians, divas and dictators, they've all been drawn to captivating Lake Garda (Lago di Garda). Surrounded by three distinct regions – Lombardy, Trentino Alto-Adige and the Veneto – the lake’s cultural diversity attracts a cosmopolitan crowd. Restaurants in the North such as Riva del Garda and Torbole serve air-dried ham and Austrian-style salted beef, while in the south one will find family-friendly spa towns such as Sirmione and Bardolino.

Castelvecchio
Castelvecchio is a castle in Verona, northern Italy. It is the most important military construction of the Scaliger dynasty that ruled the city in the Middle Ages. Castelvecchio is now home to the Castelvecchio Museum and the local officer's club which can be accessed through the left door on Corso Cavour.

Excursions
Venice
Venice, the capital of northern Italy’s Veneto region, is built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. It has no roads, just canals – including the Grand Canal thoroughfare – lined with Renaissance and Gothic palaces. The central square, Piazza San Marco, contains St. Mark’s Basilica, which is tiled with Byzantine mosaics, and the Campanile bell tower offering views of the city’s red roofs.

Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east.

Bergamo
Bergamo is an Italian city northeast of Milan, in the Lombardy region. Its older upper district, called Città Alta, is characterized by cobblestone streets, encircled by Venetian walls and accessible by funicular. It's home to the Duomo di Bergamo, the city cathedral. Also here are the Romanesque Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and the grand Cappella Colleoni, a chapel with 18th-century frescoes by Tiepolo.