Ah, sweet Verona. What a lovely little town! So yes, Verona is a real place. Shakespeare didn’t make it up. Didn’t really have an original bone in his body, the Bard. Liked to take tiny threads of truth and weave marvellous tales about them, never letting that truth get in the way of a great story!
You can visit the house that the real Juliet lived in, stand on “that” balcony, wander through the house (beautiful it is too, well worth a visit for its architectural and historical interest alone), and grope the right breast of a statue of Juliet, which is supposed to bring your lover running. I resisted the temptation, mainly because it involved standing in line with about 100 other tourists. My future lover will have to find me another way!! I also visited the tomb of the real Juliet, which frankly was a little cold and damp and miserable. Don’t suppose tombs are supposed to be cheerful, cosy places though!
There are a number of sites of Roman interest also, including an arena smaller than the Colosseum but still impressive. They were holding operas there in the evenings which would have been fun had I thought to get myself organised! Ah well, off to Venice tomorrow.
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