The day after Aunt Dee and Eileen departed for Fresno, Seth and I left took a little trip up north, spending one night in Mantua and two nights in Verona. The inspiration for the outing was to attend the opera festival in Verona, and since we were there, we decided to spend a little time in Manuta, too. Mantua is very important for Seth's research so he also managed to look at a few manuscripts in their library during our short stay.
Mantua, a fairly small city, was pretty quiet!
I took myself out for coffee and shopping while Seth was sweating away (literally) in the library.
Next to a blind accordion player was a very cool fill-your-own milk booth. I wish Florence had one of these (the latteria, not necessarily the accordion player).
Interesting sweets!
Piazza Sordello
Picnic dinner in Piazza Virgiliana,named after one of Mantua's famous former residents, Virgil
I love these funky, crunchy rolls. Seth is less impressed by them.
The view of Manova from across the Lago InferioreThe next morning there was a huge outdoor clothing market downtown
Rotonda di San Lorenzo
We had wanted to go to the Palazzo Ducale, but instead trekked across town to the Palazzo Te, a giant two-storey building packed with fascinating 16th-century mannerist frescoes
In the afternoon we hopped on a train to Verona. The city is quite a bit larger than Mantova and attracts a fair few tourists, most notably for its Romeo and Juliet lore and for the annual Opera festival.
The old Roman arches leading into Verona's large Piazza Bra
Piazza Bra and the spruced up ancient Roman Arena
Chiesa di San Fermo
The view from Ponte Navi
From Ponte Pietra
After a fantastic kabab dinner, we walked through the Piazza Bra by night
The next morning we went running across the Ponte di Castelvecchio...
...and up to a lookout at Castel S. Pietro
Our small B&B. Actually, it was a 4-bedroom apartment with all the rooms for rent.
Basilica di San Zeno
I love 600-year-old graffiti
An altarpiece by Andrea Montegna
The Roman Porta Borsari
Piazza Erbe (originally a Roman Forum)
The 500 year old whale bone hanging under the second arch that is supposed to fall when a person who has never told a lie walks under it... and is subsequently killed
Piazza Signori
The alley leading to the courtyard of "Juliet's House" (La Casa di Giulietta), decorated with the graffiti of thousands of love-struck pilgrims. Pretty much all the tourists in the city are crammed here between the alley and the courtyard. As you might imagine, it took a lot of convincing to get Seth to come here.
Doesn't anyone realise that Juliet was fictional? Maybe they are just curious, like me. At least I didn't bother to pay a visit to the very popular "Tomb of Juliet".
Within the neighborhood of the Montecchi (or Montague) family ... whichreally did inspire Shakespeare's feuding families
A slick Italian version of a frat boy.
Inside the really pretty Chiesa di San Lorenzo
In the evening, after resting the hot afternoon away, we headed for the opera La Traviata
Inside the Roman arena
La Traviata. It actually got really windy, and despite the afternoon heat, it felt pretty cold so high up!
Running our last morning on top of the old city walls which were converted to a park.
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