Verona in Love

 "There is no world for me outside the walls of Verona, except purgatory, torture, and hell itself. So to be banished from Verona is like being banished from the world, and being banished from the world is death." - Romeo

Enter JENNA [stage right] wearing a floral headband and a backpack.


Okay, so I am currently in Verona, which is the town where the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet took place. It is said that real life events that took place in this town are what inspired Shakespeare to write his epic tale. Two families, called Montecchi and Cappelletti (evidence of their existence in the town can still be found!) are believed to have been engaged in a feud when the two star crossed lovers meet and well.. the rest is history.

love lockets

You can visit the famed 'Casa di Giulietta' (Juliet's house) which has its brick walls scribbled with love hearts and names of couples. Everywhere you looked, there was declarations of love from the metal gate hanging thousand of love locks on them to the entrance archway which was covered in old bubblegum with love notes attached (not sure if this was gross or sweet)

In the courtyard there is a bronzed statue of Juliet and legend has it if you grab her left breast, you get goodluck and happiness.
I am so sure a man made up this myth.














Also for the handsome fee of 5 euros you can stand on Juliet's balcony and call out "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" (the yelling to Romeo is optional)

Devastatling, the balcony is not Juliet's real balcony- it was made as part of a movie set and is actually part of an old tomb :(




Verona is a very beautiful, old city and is nicknamed "Little Roma". It is the fourth most visited city in Italy, and it's quite easy to see why! Despite it's connection with Shakespeare's play, there is lots of qauint little shops, sophisticated restaurants, markets in the Stadium everyday and lotsss of history and culture.
Only having one day here, I decided to not only visit the House of Juliet, the House of Romeo and the Tomb of Juliet (basically the whole reason I came to this town), but I also visited the Arena and Castelvecchio.

The third largest Roman Ampitheatre, it was magnificant !

Castelvecchio was a castel built in the 1300's and is now a museum, home to some of the oldest and most important pieces of art in Europe.

Something which I have adopted on this trip is something which I never thought I would have- a particular taste in art. Unfortunately, this museum didn't do much for me because it was full of sculptures and old fragments of... things.

?????

However, I did enjoy looking at the beautifully maintained, original frescoes which had adorned the walls of the castle in the 13th century.

I would like make a point though, that some art is seriously weird and you can basically paint anything and say it has a great, indepth meaning. I mean seriously, look at this one, its two dogs climbing a ladder. The only meaning I can possibly see behind this is that the artist is quite fond of the movie 101 Dalmations.