the places of Romeo and Juliet
“Love me Love me, tell me you love me”. The citation of the Cardigan and theirs Crazy Love (1996) is perfect for one marriage proposal, especially if you are a Verona. The Venetian city is famous all over the world for being the city of lovers, thanks to Shakespeare and his Romeo and Juliet, set right in Verona.
DAY 1 – In the footsteps of Juliet
Let’s dedicate a day walking in the footsteps of Juliet, this young girl in love with life and daughter of the powerful family Capulets, wealthy merchants from Verona, who have always belonged to the family Montecchi.
If you plan your trip in order to be in town for on September 16, it is good to know that every year an event is organized in Medieval costumes in the Old Market Courtyard, where musicians, artists, falconers, drums and flag-wavers of the Palio perform for celebrate the immortal Veronese heroine.
The most popular place to visit, the one that attracts every year millions of visitors from all over the world, and the Giulietta’s home, visible in the photo at the end of the paragraph. Located in via Cappello, a short distance from the power station Piazza delle Erbe, to enter you pass under a arch, where you can still see it coat of arms from the noble family Da Cappello (in the play becomes Capulets).
The Wall that separates the courtyard has always been the subject of couples from all over the world because, legend tells, that if you write the names of the lover, they are destined to be together forever. But a legend answers one counter-current revealing that the two unfortunates present on Juliet’s wall are destined never to crown their love story.
In the courtyard there is a bronze copy of the statue of Juliet, created by Nereo Costantini in 1969. Here too the superstitious and dreamers touches Juliet’s right breast because it brings good luck. Looking up you can see the balcony of the girl’s room, famous for the love scene with Romeo: “Oh Romeo, Romeo… Why are you Romeo? Disown your father; and refuse your name: or, if you do not want, only in an oath to my love, and I will no longer be a Capulet … “
Juliet’s house is open to the public and used for museum, rebuilt in perfect condition Shakespearean style. Inside you can see the Juliet’s room with the bed that served as the backdrop for the film by Zanichelli they stage clothes of the famous film. Juliet’s balcony is also the ideal place for yours marriage proposal: it’s possible rent the location exclusively for a few minutes, just long enough to give a ring with a proposal that couldn’t be more romantic than that!
A quarter of an hour walk to the center of Verona will take you to the Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum. In the then convent of San Francesco al Corso, you can find the sarcophagus of Juliet. Made of red clay, it finds its very first appearance in XVI century thanks to Girolamo della Corte.
Many people, during the early 19th century, made a pilgrimage here, plundering it out of superstition. Lord Byron told Thomas Moore in 1816 that he had brought his family a piece of that red clay earth as a good luck charm.
On the one hand there are legends that tell it is just that the place of the couple’s tragic epilogue, on the other hand it is said that the tomb was placed outside the walls of Verona at the behest of Fra Lorenzo, so that Romeo, bandit, can reach it. For this reason there is one license plate placed at the entrance of Juliet’s Tomb that narrates passages from the famous poem by Shakespeare: “Eyes, look at it for the last time! Arms, gird her with the last hug! And you, lips, doors of breath, seal a contract without data with a chaste kiss … “
If you think that the film “Letters to Juliet”, Year 2010, it was pure fiction, well, you are wrong! Juliet’s club where Amanda Seyfried actually exists and it is precisely in the name of the unfortunate protagonist that a group of women answer letters from heartbroken lovers. The letters come from all over the world and a team of volunteers read and respond, keeping all the messages and keeping the epistolary tradition alive.
Not to be missed:
- Juliet’s house
- Juliet’s tomb
- Juliet’s Club
DAY 2 – In the footsteps of Romeo
We wear the robes of the vigorous Romeo. Only child of the powerful family Montecchi of Verona, is impulsive and immature, halfway between virility and idealism, skilled swordsman but also poetry and sonnet reader. We begin to retrace his footsteps from a austere and noble palace built to withstand enemy attacks, stayed there house of the Montecchi until 1325, when the family was banished from Verona for having participated in the plot against Cangrande della Scala. Impenetrable, as a private property, it is possible to glimpse the courtyard when the gates are open.
When it comes to Romeo, the massive Baroque building should be visited, Carlotti Palace, which on the facade houses a plaque and a bas-relief representative the duel between Tybalt and Romeo. Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin and kills Mercutio in one of the most violent clashes between Montecchi and Capulets. It was Romeo who killed Tybalt to avenge his friend Mercutio, only to be exiled to Mantua.
Volto Barbaro is instead the road that passes under the bridge connecting the Domus Nova and the Domus Blandorum, places where the Mazzanti Houses stand today. Considered to be among the oldest buildings in Verona, they overlook piazza Erbe up to corso Santa Anastasia and are characteristic because they were more than 300 painted facades in perfect style Urbis Picta. The story goes that Barbarian face it was a place of crime in 1277, when Mastiff of the Scala he was murdered for revenge.
Not to be missed:
- Romeo’s house
- Barbarian face
- Carlotti Palace
DAY 3 – Shakespeare’s Verona
Romeo and Juliet is not the only work of Shakespeare, said the Bard, to have been set in Italy. There are many others and five in the frame of the Veneto. Just remember the merchant of Venice Oh, the taming of the shrew of Padua. The problem is that there is no trace of a passage by the writer in Italy.
The most probable hypothesis is that it took s point from other texts in circulation in that period. For example the story of two unfortunate young lovers already circulated: at the beginning of the sixteenth century the text by Luigi Da Porto, The newly rediscovered history, had a plot very very similar to that of the Bard and had already been part of Venetian folk tales for some time.
We dedicate the last day to Shakespeare and his Veronese romantic moments. Sui doors of the Bra, born in the communal age, when factional clashes played an important role in the genesis of the story between Romeo and Juliet, are the guardians of a half bust of Shakespeare (a nice article in the photo). Next to it is one license plate which recites the words of Romeo: “There is no world outside the walls of Verona: but only purgatory, torture, hell; whoever is banished from here is banished from the world; and exile from the world is death.
In heart of the historic center of Verona, stands the funerary complex in the Gothic style which takes the name of Scaliger Arch, from the family of Scaligeri. This monument, defined by the French historian Duby as the most significant of art gothic, it actually contains the tomb of some illustrious representatives of the family. It also seems to contain that of the largest Lord of Verona Cangrande, a which Dante I dedicate the Paradise in the Divine Comedy.
This small itinerary can be spiced with a toast with a view of Ponte Pietra, or a aperitif above the Torre dei Lamberti. In the evening it is possible to experience the magic of the Verona Arena or one wine tasting for the numerous wineries in the city. Streets, clubs, passages and bridges are romantic places to meet and experience a romantic escape from reality.
Not to be missed:
- The doors of the Bra
- The Bust of Shakespeare
- The Arche Scaligere