Verona

'What's in a name?' she sighs.
When we were planning our itinerary back in Oz, these Northern Italian cities all sounded impossibly exotic and romantic. Florence, Siena, Bologna, Padua, Venice, Bolzarno and so on. In the end we took a punt on Verona, not really knowing much about it. We are very glad we did.
Of course, Juliet and her boyfriend Romeo feature largely here. We thought to avoid the cheesiest of the tourist traps, but quickly found ourselves at Juliet's house, where dozens of doe-eyed teenaged girls fondle the right breast of her statue while having their photos snapped by their slightly bemused boyfriends. I'm not sure of the significance, but I'm willing to go along with the practice. Gracie, any ideas?
Perhaps we should put up something similar in Kylie Minogue's old home?

The pleasing thing, though, was the tour through the house. Most tourists just do the photo and look up at the balcony and leave, but the house has 4 or 5 levels of seemingly authentic 16th century clothing, furniture, household items and so on. Some of it was from Zefferilli's film from the 70's. One of our favourite places.

Verona itself is an old Roman town on the mighty Aldige River.
Oh alright, it goes back to Etruscan times but never mind!
The town centre is dominated by a huge Arena, approaching the Colosseum in age and size, and which has been used pretty much constantly from the 1st century, except for a flat spot in the Dark Ages when most people stayed home and ate dung.
These days it has a show on most nights and seems to be quite the hub of the town. There is also an old Roman theatre which is in use as well.

Verona seemed a very youthful place- we thought we were the oldest ones there for quite a while! Quite a change after the geriatric Americans who infest Venice! Vibrant, bustling and friendly (I sound like a lonely Planet writer....)

For our last exploration, we went to Castelvecchio.
This old castle was full of statues, carvings, paintings and a bell you could ring! (Well, it didn't say not to.) Rhonda was quite happy as long as there were no ramparts to climb. As you can see, in my sincere attempt to find a quick exit, we did have to cross a small rampart, and unfortunately as it was a dead end we had to cross it again.

Verona; 4 stars! A fulfilling dish without too much cheese.

Next: Lago di Como