ROMAN VERONA
We can start from Piazza Bra (from the old German
word breit meaning wide): it lies to the south of the Roman
city, outside its town walls, and is dominated by the Arena
amphitheatre, the third largest such building built in the
time of Flavius (1st Century A.D.): it is a clear sign of the
importance of ancient Verona, as it could hold more than
20.000 spectators. Today, it is the Summer home of great lyric
opera, applauded by thousand of people. The outer circle, of
which just four arches over three storeys remain, collapsed
following the earthquakes of 1117 and 1183, whereas the
inside seating is the work of an admirable restoration project
begun in the XV Century.
Porta Leona Gate, of which one can still admire
the internal facade and the base of one of the two towers, and
to the west as far as the River Adige, with an opening for the
Porta Borsari Gate, of which the exterior facade still
remains: both gates were built in the time of Flavius (1st Century
A.D.): Porta Borsari stood on the Decumano Massimo
(decumanus), the major north-south road, identifiable today
as Corso Porta Palio, Corso Cavour and Corso Portoni Borsari,
while the Porta Leona was the starting point for the administration
of the Veronese people for Shakespeare and his universal art
has its focal point: the House of Juliet. 
religious heart of the early city which within
its walls covere a surface area of around 440.000 sq.m. The
colourful fruit and vegetable market has stood here for more than
two thousand years, alongside the buildings of the late Mediaeval
and Renaissance periods, and some of the most beautiful frescoed
houses in all Verona (Casa Mazzanti, north side), the
ancient Torre dei Lamberti, the still olderGardello
tower next to the splendid Maffei Palace, home of the Tourist
Board, and the so-called Ghetto. The whole area around
the Piazza Erbe, standing 3.5 meters higher than the Roman level,
is a wealth of remains of Roman pavement, all easily seen in the
nearby courtyards and squares. Crossing the river by the Roman
bridge known as Ponte Pietra, one comes to the Roman
Theatre: restoration work, begun in the XVIII Century, has
brought to light one of the most interesting monuments of the very
early Imperial period, built into the Hill of St. Peter's, Verona's most
ancient residential area, with an air space up to 20 meters high.
Re-crossing the Adige, the western side is occuped by the complex
of buildings of the Duomo, Verona's Cathedral, built on an
ancient spa site, where a significant number of traces of a
paleochristian basilica (IV-V Century A.D.), have been found.
