Verona is a sister city to Venice, having historically been conquered by the same folks and/or formed alliances with each other, but they are as different in temperament as two sisters can be. Venice is timeless as a result of tourism and law, Verona has preserved the city’s art and architectural character, but is definitely on a path forward. Venice is compact because of its location, Verona has always had space to grow. The far vista in Venice is water, in Verona you can see snow capped mountains and the city is surrounding farmland.
To visit Venice is like stepping through a looking glass. I can’t begin to describe how enchanted I was from the moment I emerged from the train station into the sight and sound of boats on the Grand Canal.
Common wisdom says that staying in Venice overnight is not desirable. I wanted to stay in Venice because I had heard that after the day tripping crowds go back to whence they came, the evening brings a quiet to this small town visited by 25 to 30 million people a year. We were rewarded for our efforts with great people watching during the day, restaurants with fine food in the evening, and getting lost in the labyrinth of lanes leading to bridges over delightfully picturesque canals as we made our way home.
Many guidebooks have waxed poetic about the grandeur and romance of Venice and now I understand why. Art, architecture, commerce and engineering all combine to make this a unique place on the planet. Many guidebooks have also waxed poetic about the smell and rats of Venice ~ neither of which were a problem for us.
Our hotel was around the corner from St Mark’s Square and we heard the bells around the clock. The shops hold beautiful things ~ all at beautiful tourist prices. The Vaporetti (water buses), were an experience unto themselves I would not have missed for the world.
What we didn’t do; take a gondola ride. They are expensive, and from what we understand, somewhat overrated. We did have a drink at a fancy waterfront hotel bar where we watched the gondoliers come and go for an hour. Watching those guys (yes, only dudes), glide into the dock, discharge passengers then glide backwards to pick up another set of passengers while avoiding water taxis, the wakes of Vaporetti and their fellow gondoliers coming in to dock, was a master class in small boat handling. I never once saw one bump into anything but their intended landing place.
The modern day challenge Venice faces is the same for many historic and unique places; how to retain a sense of place AND remain open to tourists. How to not destroy the historic value of the space and still have room for those visitors while moving them swiftly and safely from one place to another. Even more challenging; keeping housing prices affordable and accessible for locals. Venice and Verona had roughly the same population of a little over 250,000 people in 2017. Today, Venice’s local population is steadily declining and stands at around 50,000. Will we love it to extinction? The jury is out, but don’t be surprised if there is an admission fee and/or other drastic changes to prevent Venice from becoming a place no one actually lives in.
Bordered on three sides by a bend in the river Adige, Verona has outgrown its original city plan of 40,000 to become a city of more than 400,000 people. The old city includes Roman ruins, (an arena and stage for a massive Opera Festival each summer), a historic fort/admin/house of a powerful ruling family, (Vecchio Scaligeri), statues venerating poets who created and lived there (Dante among others), a huge Basilica complex (Duomo) and interesting squares to sit while drinking aperitivo and watching the people go by. Verona is also supposedly the home of the Capulets and Montague clans, families of the famous Shakespeare play “Romeo & Juliet”. There is no scholarship suggesting Romeo & Juliet truly lived here, but there is a statue in the Juliet courtyard who brings you good luck when you rub her breast. (Gross). We did not touch the statue….CoVid is real!
Most importantly, the food in Verona was better and more affordable than Venice. No matter the time of day, no matter the place, the food was very close to perfect. Spaghetti with red sauce, charcuterie, gelato, caprese salad, wine, gelato, bread….I’m happy just thinking about it.
Would we live in Venice? Who can afford it?! Would we visit again….yes, even with a lottery system and admission fee.
Would we live in Verona? Probably not ~ it’s like Denver with better food and in Italy. Would we visit again? Yes, to attend their annual world-renowned opera festival!
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