The beautiful backdrop for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet will capture your heart. But is it too good to be true?
MICHAEL HODGES - 28 March 2021
The walled garden at the western end of the Casa di Giulietta in Verona is supposed to be where love-struck Juliet called down to Romeo. Only it’s baloney. Neither of the star-crossed lovers actually existed; they were written into life by William Shakespeare. And the famous balcony? It was put there in the 1930s to attract tourists. But after the year the Italians have just had, who’s going to come here and knock their balconies? Besides, that’s just one of the many delightful things about this ancient and compact city in northern Italy’s Veneto region – the truth doesn’t get in the way of a very good story.
Walk through the archway from the Via Cappello into the Casa di Giulietta garden and your disbelief will fall away. It’s helped by the fact that the rest of the building is very much the real thing: this is a genuine palazzo, and once home to the real-life Capulets (or, at least, the Cappellos – the great, late-medieval family that Shakespeare reworked as the Capulets). A statue of “Juliet” stands beneath the balcony, and tradition has it that couples must touch its breast for luck. Post-Covid regulations may well see an end to that habit, but whatever Italy looks like after its last lockdown is lifted, restrictions shouldn’t impair the greatest yet simplest pleasure this city can offer a visitor: a walk around it. In fair Verona, everything is at hand for the pedestrian. Take a short stroll through the Città Anticca and you’ll find Juliet’s tomb in a crypt at the Museum of Frescoes, once a Franciscan monastery. Again, it’s not genuine – because, again, Juliet did not exist! – but that doesn’t lessen the sadness to settle on observers as they look down into the chamber. The mood is heightened – or lowered rather – by the inscription from Act V, Scene III on the wall. “A grave? O, no; a lantern… for here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence, full of light.”
Now dry your eyes and potter along the banks of the River Adige to admire the Ponte Pietra, a Roman bridge destroyed by the Germans in the Second World War and put back together stone by stone in 1957. Pause, astonished, in front of the ornate Gothic tombs of the Scaliger family outside the Santa Maria Antica church, then wander over to the Roman arena where the famous opera festival takes place each summer (this year’s is currently scheduled to go ahead).
After that, cross the cobbled square and walk to the equally fabulous, though less famous, Museo di Castelvecchio, where a ground-breaking brutalist interior was inserted into a medieval castle in the 1960s. The result is one of the most remarkable art galleries in Europe, stuffed with examples of Gothic statuary and a Bellini painting or two. Upper floors feature architect Carlo Scarpa’s own take on the balcony – one has a statue of a knight balanced on it, to dramatic effect – and Scarpa’s concrete interiors guarantee a cool retreat from sweltering streets in summer. To escape the city heat altogether, you could base yourself beside the natural wonder of Lake Garda. Just an hour west of the city, the lake has its own year-round microclimate and is the most northerly point in Europe where olive oil is produced commercially – yet only 60km away there are year-round snowfields in the Dolomites.
This is also one of the most distinctive and strange landscapes in Italy. If you’ve ever wondered why the mountains in early Renaissance landscapes are so oddly shaped, the top end of Garda might explain it. Twisted peaks loom over the genteel resort of Riva del Garda, which, despite the eerie setting, has charming beach gardens and a knock-out gelateria. At the opposite end of the lake, the isthmus of Sirmione has a magical castle and bustling street cafés and restaurants. Keep going towards the western end of the island and you’ll find alleys, hidden glades and bougainvillea-draped villas including the former home of the great soprano Maria Callas. You can travel around the lake on the unnerving road that disappears into tunnels through cliff faces. If you want an idea of how scary it is to use, go to YouTube and watch the opening scene of the James Bond film Quantum of Solace! Better, and far safer, to sail up and down the lake on the regular ferry services, and discover spots like the Gothic cathedral at Salo, or the nearby, fantastical home of the early 20thcentury poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, who is said to have had his lower ribs removed surgically for reasons too rude to go into here and who dropped bombs on Austrian submarines by hand during the First World War. Now he, amazingly, really did exist.
The walled garden at the western end of the Casa di Giulietta in Verona is supposed to be where love-struck Juliet called down to Romeo. Only it’s baloney. Neither of the star-crossed lovers actually existed; they were written into life by William Shakespeare. And the famous balcony? It was put there in the 1930s to attract tourists. But after the year the Italians have just had, who’s going to come here and knock their balconies? Besides, that’s just one of the many delightful things about this ancient and compact city in northern Italy’s Veneto region – the truth doesn’t get in the way of a very good story.
Walk through the archway from the Via Cappello into the Casa di Giulietta garden and your disbelief will fall away. It’s helped by the fact that the rest of the building is very much the real thing: this is a genuine palazzo, and once home to the real-life Capulets (or, at least, the Cappellos – the great, late-medieval family that Shakespeare reworked as the Capulets). A statue of “Juliet” stands beneath the balcony, and tradition has it that couples must touch its breast for luck. Post-Covid regulations may well see an end to that habit, but whatever Italy looks like after its last lockdown is lifted, restrictions shouldn’t impair the greatest yet simplest pleasure this city can offer a visitor: a walk around it. In fair Verona, everything is at hand for the pedestrian. Take a short stroll through the Città Anticca and you’ll find Juliet’s tomb in a crypt at the Museum of Frescoes, once a Franciscan monastery. Again, it’s not genuine – because, again, Juliet did not exist! – but that doesn’t lessen the sadness to settle on observers as they look down into the chamber. The mood is heightened – or lowered rather – by the inscription from Act V, Scene III on the wall. “A grave? O, no; a lantern… for here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence, full of light.”
Now dry your eyes and potter along the banks of the River Adige to admire the Ponte Pietra, a Roman bridge destroyed by the Germans in the Second World War and put back together stone by stone in 1957. Pause, astonished, in front of the ornate Gothic tombs of the Scaliger family outside the Santa Maria Antica church, then wander over to the Roman arena where the famous opera festival takes place each summer (this year’s is currently scheduled to go ahead).
After that, cross the cobbled square and walk to the equally fabulous, though less famous, Museo di Castelvecchio, where a ground-breaking brutalist interior was inserted into a medieval castle in the 1960s. The result is one of the most remarkable art galleries in Europe, stuffed with examples of Gothic statuary and a Bellini painting or two. Upper floors feature architect Carlo Scarpa’s own take on the balcony – one has a statue of a knight balanced on it, to dramatic effect – and Scarpa’s concrete interiors guarantee a cool retreat from sweltering streets in summer. To escape the city heat altogether, you could base yourself beside the natural wonder of Lake Garda. Just an hour west of the city, the lake has its own year-round microclimate and is the most northerly point in Europe where olive oil is produced commercially – yet only 60km away there are year-round snowfields in the Dolomites.
This is also one of the most distinctive and strange landscapes in Italy. If you’ve ever wondered why the mountains in early Renaissance landscapes are so oddly shaped, the top end of Garda might explain it. Twisted peaks loom over the genteel resort of Riva del Garda, which, despite the eerie setting, has charming beach gardens and a knock-out gelateria. At the opposite end of the lake, the isthmus of Sirmione has a magical castle and bustling street cafés and restaurants. Keep going towards the western end of the island and you’ll find alleys, hidden glades and bougainvillea-draped villas including the former home of the great soprano Maria Callas. You can travel around the lake on the unnerving road that disappears into tunnels through cliff faces. If you want an idea of how scary it is to use, go to YouTube and watch the opening scene of the James Bond film Quantum of Solace! Better, and far safer, to sail up and down the lake on the regular ferry services, and discover spots like the Gothic cathedral at Salo, or the nearby, fantastical home of the early 20thcentury poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, who is said to have had his lower ribs removed surgically for reasons too rude to go into here and who dropped bombs on Austrian submarines by hand during the First World War. Now he, amazingly, really did exist.
MICHAEL HODGES