We had proposed spending two nights at Verona, but American friends who
came with us from Venice were anxious to get on to Milan, so that we
had just two hours the following morning for a drive about the town. We
regretted afterwards that our opportunity was not greater, for it is
indeed a place at which one may stay for a few days with advantage. It
is very picturesquely situated on the river Adige, and contains a good
deal that is interesting. We first drove through the old market–place,
where people were busy selling fruit, vegetables, and other things in
a piazza surrounded by curious old houses. Then into the Piazza dei
Signori, where are some very fine buildings, old and new, and adjoining
it a small open space or square closely surrounded by houses, in which
the noted and highly decorated tombs of the Scaligers, enclosed within
a wall and railing, are seen. Then on to the Arena, which is not so
imposing as the Colosseum or even the Arena at Nismes, and although
covering more ground than the latter, was seated for fewer spectators;
but it is in a very perfect condition—the most perfect, I think, of
any we saw in Italy, the large marble slabs of which it is built being
nearly all in place. We mounted to the top row, and had an excellent
view of the country round about. From this we drove to the church
of San Zenone Maggiore, a thousand years old, and very curious. The
portal is peculiar, and adorned by rich marble reliefs. Within are
some fine old pillars, said to be of single pieces of marble, a crypt,
and cloisters—altogether a place of great interest and of striking
conformation. We were only sorry we had so little time to examine
it minutely, for we could take but a rapid walk round. Returning to
town we entered two other churches,—San Fermo Maggiore, with an open
ceiling in walnut wood, and the Duomo, which is quaintly ornamented;
but we had seen so many Italian churches elsewhere that we were rather
attracted to a little building at the end of a garden, said to be the
tomb of Juliet. One is fain to believe in it, but as matter of fact
it is discredited. This tomb so–called Juliet’s is an elegant, small,
open, three–arched vault, or recessed covered place with slender double
columns, containing within a sarcophagus. More certainty is attached to
what is shown at a different part of the town as Juliet’s window; but,
alas for the romance! the window looks into the street, and it has no
balcony.
[Illustration: TOMB OF JULIET,—VERONA.]
So rapid a survey was not doing justice to fair Verona. There was
much more to be seen in the town, while the river and its bridges and
surroundings, and the neighbouring country, all looked so picturesque
and inviting, that I have no doubt it is a favourite halting–place for
the artist, and it may well repay a visit of some days.