Verona City Guide

Our Day in Verona

Verona was our last stop before we returned to Milan for our flight to Amsterdam. Since the train from Bolzano stopped in Verona, we made sure to budget time in the fair city. Looking back, I think it was my favorite spot from our Italian stops.

I’ve put together some photos and notes from our trip if you’d like to take a look…

We ended up taking a taxi from the train station to our hotel, which saved us quite a bit of time. We stayed at Albergo Mazzanti, located behind the smaller but arguably more charming Piazza Delle Erbe. Although we enjoyed our Airbnb in Milan, we ultimately preferred staying in hotels for our shorter stopovers. Our concierges were eager to help, gave us maps, made dinner reservations for us, and advised us on the best sites and routes in each city.

We grabbed a leisurely lunch in the Piazza while we people-watched and listened to buskers play the violin and accordion. We loved the food in Verona: lots of fresh ingredients and fruit-forward desserts.

We walked around the city all afternoon, checking out Juliet’s balcony first (a must-see for this English teacher and book nerd). It was packed. The courtyard and alley leading to it were littered with love notes and featured graffiti from lovers’ pilgrimages. A bronze Juliet statue stands in the courtyard as a beacon for love, and tourists rub Juliet’s left breast (?!) for good luck in their own love lives. It was interesting and pretty hilarious to see. I wish I had a photo, but Rick Steves has a video to document the ritual.

We then, of course, grabbed gelato at Gelateria Savoia as we putzed around Piazza Brà. The Verona Arena is incredible and inspired the design of the Roman Colosseum. We then headed toward the river and walked the Castelvecchio Bridge before heading back to our room to freshen up before dinner.

Verona was fun and interesting during the day, but something magical happened as we headed out for dinner at dusk. As we crossed the river, the city became overwhelmingly beautiful. Our reservations were for Restaurant Teodorico across the Pietra Bridge and about a half mile above Verona. (Translation: we walked up half a mile of stone steps to reach it.) And WOW was that climb worth the effort.