Verona – Self Tour – Steve Chambers, AIA
Dinner is somewhat intimidating for the two of us as our Italian is highly suspect. Occasionally, Steve speaks Spanish and I speak French, thinking that we are actually speaking Italian. When we arrive at a recommended ‘hot spot’ for pizza in Verona, the front reception is very well-lit and snugly packed with lively Italians gesturing in animated conversations. We both stand at the door, deciding if we dare enter and ask for a table with our pitiful command of the language. I get the courage to step up to the maitre d’ who is perched behind an elevated podium and entering names on a list. “Senore,” I started in a low voice, “mio Italiano e molto bruto!” “No, no, Senora, m’ anglais e molto bruto, and then all I heard was “bellissimo italiano!” His warmth invited us to stay. He turned the roster of names toward me and said, “you write!” We were soon seated and tried to order a pizza “the size of a plate.” “No, no, senora, you must have the mezzo metre,” the waiter insists. Half a meter, we thought, can we eat that much pizza?! “No,no,” I protested and pointed to a single pizza on a dinner plate at the other end of the dining room. “You be happy with this,” he insisted. In 20 minutes, a pizza eighteen inches in diameter arrives on a rustic wooden board. We stuff away all but one piece. Tutto bene!
This is the perfect ending to an orienting walk around il centro. The Verona colosseum is 50 years older than the one in Rome. It’s the world’s third largest Roman amphitheatre and, originally, could seat the entire population of Roman Verona, about 20,000 citizens. It is still being used for operas, theater, and next evening’s Peter Gabriel concert. A prominent example of sustainable design, this building has remained in use for its original purpose for over 2000 years—a credit to the Roman builders, the Italians in general, the Veronese, and its original stone construction.
Earlier in our walk around the centro, a Swiss brass band was playing in Juliet’s Courtyard, which skews the plot on this famous play a bit for us. Romeo and Juliet, written by Luigi da Porto of Vicenza in 1520s, was inspired by two passages in a poem by Dante and continues to inform countless dramas, movies, and operas. Romeo is said to have climbed up this balcony at #27 Via Cappello, the home of the Capulet family, but we find that this love story is not true and the home eventually became a bordello. And yet, the day we are here we want to see it too, as hundreds of others clamor into the courtyard, where upon assigned walls and gates lovers still graffiti their names and expressions of eternal fidelity. Architecturally, it’s an interior court open to the sky which many of the buildings in Verona have, but are rarely seen by the public. In this case, the literary device of a tragic love affair between the children of two feuding hat maker families lends us an opportunity to share in the visual feast and reflect upon our own devotions — and helps the citizens of Verona thrive!
Rusticated stone wall: cut stone with smooth or roughly textured block faces, with deeply recessed mortar joints which create a deep shadow line; in this case, a bold geometric effect.
