Travel Reports
Verona
Verona suffers from a fuddy-duddy reputation. Coach loads of Campari clutching luvvies head there for the annual opera extravaganzas in the Roman Arena. You might expect the city of Romeo and Juliet to be writhing with irritating droves of lovelorn heterosexuals, but mercifully, most make a beeline for Venice. Out of season, the city is a delight. Basking in warm sunshine in an elegant pavement café on the Piazza del Erbe, surrounded by medieval towers and Venetian palazzos, the UK winter blues quickly evaporate.
Known as Piccolo Roma, or little Rome, Verona shares many of the capital’s attractions: imposing ancient ruins, immaculately restored Romanesque churches, grand cafe-filled piazzas and winding, ochre-and-pink coloured medieval lanes. At a fraction of the size of Rome, and with a traffic exclusion zone extending over the entire centre, it’s also a far more relaxing place to explore, and your morning cappuccino is unlikely to be ruined by the infernal screech of Vespa motorbikes.
There’s an excellent selection of accommodation possibilities, from cosy but overpriced family-run city centre alberghis, to large, well-equipped tourist hotels in the suburbs. I stayed in the modern and comfortable four-star Hotel Leopardi in the quiet San Zeno neighbourhood, a delightful 15-minute riverside walk away from the centre.
The best way to start your visit is to equip yourself with the excellent value Verona card. At 8.00 Euros for one day or 12.00 Euros for three days, this allows you entry into all of Verona’s major attractions. The focal point of the city is, of course, the colossal Roman Arena, the third-largest in the Roman Empire. Unlike the Coliseum in Rome, however, it’s not flanked by eight lanes of choking traffic but sits in quiet tranquillity in the shady, cafe-lined Piazza Bra, a great place to while away an hour or two until the annoying Peruvian Pipe Band strikes up in the early afternoon. Inside the dark cavernous chambers, you get a real sense of the magnitude of the gladiatorial combats while the photographs of recent ostentatious opera productions all look suspiciously like Indiana Jones stage sets.
Verona’s main shopping street, the narrow and elegant Via Mazzini, links the Arena to the medieval centre. The proximity of Milan is evident from the dozens of expensive, glittering boutiques. The people have a sassy, smart edge, and London street style seems light years away. I felt distinctly down-at-heel, and so cheered myself up in one of the many mouth-watering gelaterias which line the street. In a nearby gloomy courtyard, just off Via Capello, is Verona’s biggest tourist scrum, the spurious Casa di Giulietta. Under the famous balcony, lines of noisy male tourists line up to be photographed kneeling hand on heart in front of a rather dumpy statue of Juliet. The walls of the courtyard are covered in thousands of love notes stuck on with blobs of chewing gum - some, I was alarmed to see, written on toilet paper. Resembling cliffs of guano, the whole effect is rather like visiting an offshore gannet colony in Scotland.
The medieval centre is the city’s true showcase. The best way to appreciate the city’s beauty is to take a lift up to the top of the highest tower, the Torre de Lipardi, from where the view over red-tiled rooftops towards the distant snow-capped Alps is stunning. Underneath the tower lies the quirky Arco della Costa (Arch of the Rib). An elephant’s rib bone hangs suspended below a Gothic archway, and legend has it that it will crash to the ground if an adult virgin walks beneath it. Needless to say, it stayed put when I gave it a try.
Verona is full of good-value osterias and trattorias. Be warned, though, that eating out is the city’s main preoccupation, so booking ahead on a Friday or Saturday night is essential. Horsemeat is also one of the city’s specialities, so don’t leap into the unknown without a good menu translator.
Piazza del Erbe is full of testosterone-fuelled bars, a great place to start the evening eyeing up the straight lads but, whereas heterosexuals can enjoy an al fresco drink with a magnificent historical back drop, the gay village lurks like a leper colony in an industrial wasteland miles from the city centre. Once found, though, you can relax in the huge City Sauna Club (Via Giolfino 12, Porto Vescoso area) where guys from all over northern Italy come for a bit of action. Across the yard, Romeo’s Club is always packed during its weekend theme nights. My visit coincided with An Italian bear night, and both venues were buzzing with ursine joviality.
Verona wasn’t the straight nightmare I’d expected. This most romantic of cities is the perfect getaway for a self-indulgent city break and rewards any visitor, regardless of age or sexual persuasion, with the best Italy has to offer.
Ryanair flies from Stansted to Verona, Brescia www.ryanair.com. Take the connecting bus to Verona.
British Airways flies from Gatwick to Verona www.ba.com
The Hotel Leopardi was booked through www.octopustravel-gay.com
Italian Tourist Board: www.enit.it
Travel Advice: www.fco.gov.uk
Neil Gregory
