Gillian Knows Best guide to Verona

An easy day trip from Venice, only a train ride away

I needed a do-over. The last time I visited Verona was more than a dozen years ago and it never stopped raining. Sideways rain, blustery wind, your feet are wet rain. I gave up trying to walk between churches and cafes and went to FNAC (we don’t even have that French chain in Italy anymore) bought a book, went back to my hotel room and read for the rest of the day. For no good reason it took me until a few weeks ago to go back. Thankfully this time it was a bluebird day.

This was not really a pleasure trip. Our dentist from when we lived in Rome has an office in Verona. Verona is an easy train ride from Venice.(it is just over an hour and costs about €10 each way. You want to get off at the Verona Porta Nuova stop) Mark is very good about going to the dentist. In the spirit of exposure therapy and baby steps, I joined him for the visiting Verona part of his day.

It is about a 20 minute walk from the train station to the center of town. We took a bus that takes less than 10 minutes (we took the 51. There are a few buses that go into town that leave from the depot outside of the train station. You can buy your ticket from a machine or on the bus) to the Arena and walked to Piazza Erbe. By 11:30 we had found a cafe in the sunshine and had a cornetto and cappuccino. The table of men next to us, a group of friends with southern accents that had been skiing or hiking, all ordered a variety of spritzes.

We took the elevator¹ up to the top of the Torre dei Lamberti. There are signs warning about the bells ringing on the hour. Pay attention to the time because the bells are right at ear height and I can only imagine it is very very loud if you are standing next to them when they ring.

Did you know there is a whale bone hanging in the center of the medieval Arco della Costa in between the Piazza Erbe and Piazza dei Signori?

The weather was so beautiful we took a long walk criss crossing the Adige river through the elegant residential condominium buildings in the Borgo Trento.

I do love a stripey church so before I left Mark to his appointment we stopped in the Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore. The body of the Mauretanian born San Zeno is in the crypt downstairs and maybe is where Shakespeare set the wedding of Romeo and Juliet. Upstairs there are lots of mid 14th century frescoes depicting the life of the saint. If you have more time in Verona, you can get a ticket that gives you entrance to 4 major churches.

We did not go see Juliette’s balcony or chewing gum filled courtyard. Instead I spent 45 minutes at COS trying on dresses and sweater vests.

I had an excellent cup of coffee at Ammazza Caffé on my walk back to the train station. If you need a space to do a few hours of laptop work, there is a communal table in the middle.

This hotel keeps showing up on my For You page. I think maybe on our next visit to Verona we should spend the night.

I love a silly Rom-Com. These two are set in Verona.

Love in the Villa After watching this ridiculous movie where a one bedroom apartment is the main plot point we decided that we can now refer to our little house as a villa.

Letters to Juliet The Club di Giuletta is still answering letters.

I have a long list of places I want to try on my next visit to Verona. Mark made a dentist appointment for me for a few months from now. Bookmark this post and I will update it.

Places I ate and drank on my first visit to Verona.

It has been 12+ years since I have been to any of these places. The following are excerpts from an old blog post about the ones that I liked all those years ago that are still in business and have good recent reviews.

Bottiglieria Corsini This was the first place I had the combination of francicorta and mortadella. It remains one of my most favorite things.

When the recommended dinner spot was closed on Monday's we stopped a lady pulling her market cart in the street and asked for her advice. She said that she never ate in restaurants but the place we were standing in front of was always busy. She was right. The Taverna di via Stella was filling up fast, but we got the last table and quickly ordered a bottle of the regions famous Valpolicella. The hearty local specialty of risotto amarone was perfect as the rain was just starting to fall. The cheerful waiter made us a plate with a little taste of his favorite desserts. The pear poached in amarone was the standout.

It was now lunchtime. It was still raining. I ducked into the cozy Osteria Buglioni and found a lone seat at the bar and ordered a big bold glass of amarone to ward off the chill. The plate of brasato and mashed potatoes helped too.

There was time for one more dinner before we had to take the train back to Rome. We went to the recommended Osteria de Ugo. Again, more the menu featured hearty fare like onion soup and osso bucco (which was different than the Roman one - less tomatoes I suspect) and lots more valpiocella.

Perched on my bookcase here in Venice is a teensy tiny etching of that famous balcony from Antica Tipografia Artistica Arche Scaligere. Google maps says that it is temporarily closed. Museo Conte c/o

1. You can walk up and down the 368 steps