Arena di Verona

This elliptical amphitheater on Piazza Brà, resembles Rome's Colosseum and dates back to the 1st century A.D. Four arches of the "outer circle" and a complete "inner ring" still stand. What is most remarkable is that an earthquake hit this area in the 12th century and the structures survived it.

Come between mid-July to mid-August and you’ll be treated to Verdi and Mascagni with an ancient opera house as the backdrop. This is a very popular event and each year 20,000 people come to enjoy the music and the classic ambience where the acoustics are perfect, even after all these centuries, and performances can still be conducted without any microphones. Attending an outdoor evening performance can be one of the highlights of your visit. In one season alone, you might be able to hear Macbeth, Madama Butterfly, Aïda, Carmen, Rigoletto, and Verdi's Requiem.

It is Verona's largest church and was built from 1290 to 1481. Despite taking almost two centuries to build, its facade isn't complete. Yet it's the finest representation of Gothic design in the city. Many artists in the 15th and 16th centuries decorated the interior, but few of the works are worthy of being singled out. The exception is the Pellegrini Chapel (Cappella Pellegrini), with terra-cotta reliefs by the Tuscan artist Michele, and the Giusti Chapel (Cappella Giusti), with a fresco by Pisanello representing St. George preparing to face his inevitable dragon. The patterned floor is especially impressive.

As you enter, look for two gobbi (hunchbacks) supporting holy water fonts. The church also has a beautiful campanile from the 1300s that's richly decorated with sculpture and frescoes.

Two pillars supported by puce-colored marble lions and surmounted by a rose window called the Ruota della Fortuna (Wheel of Fortune). This stunning entrance will welcome you to this near-perfect Romanesque church and campanile built between the 9th and 12th centuries.

On either side of the portal are bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments, as well as a mythological story portraying Theodoric as a huntsman lured to hell (the king of the Goths defeated Odoacer in Verona). The panels on the bronze doors, nearly 50 in all, are a remarkable achievement of medieval art, sculpted perhaps in the 12th century. They reflect a naive handling of their subject (see John the Baptist's head resting on a platter).

The artists express themselves with such candor they achieve the power of a child's storybook. The interior, somber and severe, contains a major Renaissance work at the main altar: a triptych by Andrea Mantegna, showing an enthroned Madonna and Child with saints. Although not remarkable in its characterization, it reveals the artist's genius for perspective.

Built on for Cangrande II in the 14th century, the Old Castle stands beside the Adige River (head out Via Roma) near the Ponte Scaligero, a bridge bombed by the Nazis and subsequently reconstructed. This was the former seat of the Della Scala family and has now been turned into an art museum, with important paintings from the Veronese school and other masters of northern Italy.

On the ground floor you will find 14th and 15th century sculpture are on the ground floor, and on the upper floor you'll see masterpieces of painting from the 15th to the 18th century.

In the Sala Monga is Jacopo Bellini's St. Jerome, in the desert with his lion and crucifix. Two sisterlike portraits of Saint Catherina and Veneranda by Vittore Carpaccio grace the Sala Rizzardi Allegri. The Bellini family is also represented by a lyrical Madonna con Bambino, painted by Giovanni, a master of the subject.

Between the buildings is the most provocative equestrian statue ever seen It is of Cangrande I, grinning like a buffoon, with a dragon sticking out of his back. In the Sala Murari della Corte Brà is one of the most beguiling portraits in the castle -- Giovanni Francesco Caroto's smiling red-haired boy. In the Sala di Canossa are Tintoretto's Madonna Nursing the Child and Nativity, and Veronese's Deposition from the Cross and Pala Bevilacqua Lazise.

In the Sala Bolognese Trevenzuoli is a rare self-portrait of Bernardo Strozzi, and in the Sala Avena, among paintings by the most famous Venetian masters, such as Gianbattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo and Guardi, hangs an almost satirical portrait of an 18th-century patrician family by Longhi.

The Giardino Giusti is one of Italy's oldest and most famous gardens. It was created at the end of the 14th century and these well-manicured Italian gardens, studded with cypress trees, form one of the most relaxing and coolest spots in Verona for strolls. Climb up to the “monster balcony” for an incomparable view of the city.

Agostino Giusti designed the layout of the gardens. All its 16th-century characteristics -- the grottoes, statues, fountains, box-enclosed flower garden, and maze -- have remained intact. In addition to the flower displays, you can admire statues by Lorenzo Muttoni and Alessandro Vittoria, Roman remains, and the great cypress mentioned by Goethe. The gardens, with their adjacent 16th-century palazzo, form one of Italy's most interesting urban complexes. The maze of myrtle hedges faithfully reproduces the 1786 plan of the architect Trezza. Its complicated pattern and small size make it one of the most unusual in Europe. The gardens lie near the Roman Theater, only a few minutes' walk from the heart of the city.