Verona in 3 days

Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's House — Via Cappello 23; the most visited literary pilgrimage site in Italy and one of the most visited in Europe): the house (the Gothic palazzo at Via Cappello 23 with the famous balcony (the balcone di Giulietta) — the 13th-century house was identified as "Juliet's house" in the 1930s by the tourism authorities of Verona, who added the balcony (constructed from a 14th-century sarcophagus stone) to provide the visual reference that Shakespeare's play conjures; the Cappello/Cappelletti family (who owned the house and whose coat of arms features a hat — "cappello" = hat in Italian — is the probable origin of Shakespeare's "Capulet")); the bronze statue (the 1969 bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard (by sculptor Nereo Costantini) — the right breast is polished bright by the hands of the millions of visitors who have touched it (the legend that touching the statue's right breast while making a wish about love will make the wish come true; the patina has been completely worn off the bronze); the love locks (the courtyard walls are entirely covered in love locks, graffiti messages and adhesive-taped notes (the most dense concentration of love messages in the world); the Romeo's House (Casa di Romeo — the 13th-century house on Via Arche Scaligere traditionally identified as the Montecchi/Montague family residence (no admission — now private apartments)).

Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore (the most important Romanesque church in northern Italy and one of the greatest Romanesque buildings in Europe; dedicated to San Zeno — the African Bishop of Verona (died 380 CE) who Christianised the Veronese population and is the patron saint of the city): the architecture (the church was built in multiple phases from the 5th to the 12th centuries; the current structure (the 12th-century Romanesque rebuilding) is the finest expression of the Veronese Lombard Romanesque style: the pink Verona marble and tuff stone facade with the central rose window (the "Ruota della Fortuna" — the Wheel of Fortune, carved in stone); the separate bell tower (the Romanesque campanile of 1045-1178); the bronze doors (the most important bronze doors in Italy after the Baptistery doors in Florence: the 48 bronze panels (the 12th century) on the two door leaves depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments and the life of San Zeno — cast in a single foundry workshop over a period of decades; the expressionistic power of the Romanesque figures (the flat, hierarchical scale, the expressive gestures) against the detailed narrative scenes)); the Mantegna altarpiece (the San Zeno Altarpiece by Andrea Mantegna (1457-1460) — the triptych (the Virgin Enthroned between Angels and Saints flanked by two panels of saints): the first painted triptych framed as a classical architectural structure (the Mantegna altarpiece as a "painted architecture" — the pilasters, the entablature and the garlands painted on the panel create the illusion that the Virgin and Saints are standing in a real architectural space, the most innovative altarpiece of the 15th century)).

Giardino Giusti (the Giusti Garden — Via Giardino Giusti 2; the most important Renaissance garden in northern Italy; laid out in 1580 by Agostino Giusti and continuously maintained by the same family to the present day — 440 years of unbroken family ownership and management): the garden (the terraced hillside garden on the left bank of the Adige River: the lower terrace (the formal Italian parterre — the geometrically clipped box hedges (Buxus sempervirens) in the classic Renaissance chessboard pattern, the central path lined with cypress trees (Cupressus sempervirens — the Mediterranean cypress; the Giusti garden cypresses are among the tallest in Italy, some estimated at 200+ years of age); the upper terrace (the bosco (the wooded hillside above the formal parterres — the romantic English-style section added in the 18th century); the grotto (the grotesque masonry face with the gaping mouth — the garden grotto was the obligatory Mannerist element in a 16th-century Italian garden: the giant stone face from whose mouth one exits into the bosco above)); the views (the panoramic view from the upper terrace over the city of Verona, the Adige River bends and the Arena); the famous visitors (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited the Giardino Giusti in 1769 during his Italian tour (aged 13) and pronounced it the finest garden he had seen; Goethe visited in 1786 (as documented in "Italian Journey") and described the cypress avenue as the most beautiful in Europe)).

Ponte Pietra and Teatro Romano (the Roman infrastructure of Verona across the Adige River): Ponte Pietra (the Roman bridge (the "Stone Bridge") over the Adige River — the oldest bridge in Verona; originally built in 100 BCE by the Roman colonists (the first Roman bridge over the Adige River); rebuilt multiple times (the current bridge incorporates two original Roman arches on the downstream side, identifiable by the pinkish Verona marble (the Rosso Ammonitico Veronese), and three arches rebuilt after the retreating German forces destroyed the bridge in 1945; the Veronese painstakingly recovered the original Roman marble from the Adige riverbed and incorporated it into the reconstruction — the only bridge in Italy rebuilt from its original material after World War II demolition); the Teatro Romano (the Roman theatre on the right bank of the Adige River (the north bank) facing the city across the river; built in the 1st century BCE; the semi-circular cavea cut into the hillside of the San Pietro hill; the archaeological museum (the Museo Archeologico) in the former convent on the hillside above the theatre; the summer Jazz Festival (the Verona Jazz festival uses the Teatro Romano as its venue — June-July performances in the Roman theatre)).

Torre dei Lamberti (the civic tower of Verona — the tallest building in the historic city at 84 m; built 1172 and completed in 1463; named for the Lamberti family who commissioned it as a symbol of civic and family power): the tower (the brick tower on the Piazza delle Erbe — the most distinctive vertical element of the Verona skyline along with the twin towers of the Scaligeri fortress; the two bells (the Rengo bell (the large bell, 15th century, used to call citizens to arms in emergencies) and the Marangona bell (the smaller bell, regulated the working hours of the city since 1149 — the workers were called to begin and end their day by the Marangona bell, a function it maintained for 800 years until the industrial revolution made mechanical timekeeping universal); the lift (the glass-cabin elevator inserted into the tower interior in 1963 (one of the earliest applications of a tourist elevator in a historic Italian tower)); the panorama (the view from the 84 m summit: the Piazza delle Erbe directly below (the market stalls and the medieval facades in miniature), the Arena to the south, the Adige River meanders to the north and east, the Castel San Pietro on the river hill, the Valpolicella hills to the northwest and the Dolomites on the northern horizon on clear days)).

Valpolicella wine route (the wine hills immediately northwest of Verona — 20 min by car from the historic city): the Valpolicella DOC zone (the wine production zone in the hills north of Verona between the Adige valley and Lake Garda — the "Valpolicella Classica" zone (the original historical zone: the townships of Negrar, Marano, Fumane, Sant'Ambrogio and San Pietro in Cariano) produces the finest wines of the appellation); the wines (the Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG (the "great wine of Verona" — the full-bodied 15-17% alcohol dry red from the appassimento process; the appassimento (the drying of the Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes on wooden/bamboo racks in the ventilated lofts of the hill farms for 90-120 days (November-January) — the grapes lose 30-40% of their water weight, concentrating all sugars, tannins and aromatics; the resulting wine (fermented completely dry from the concentrated grape) is the most concentrated naturally produced red wine in Italy); the Valpolicella Ripasso (the "Baby Amarone" — the lighter Valpolicella wine "re-passed" over the pressed Amarone grape skins to add complexity: 13-14% alcohol); the Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG (the sweet dessert wine made from the same dried grapes as Amarone but with the fermentation stopped before all the sugar is consumed); the winery visits (the Allegrini, the Masi, the Bertani, the Zenato and the Speri wineries in the Valpolicella Classica zone offer cellar tours and Amarone tastings (1.5-2 hrs; €15-30/person including 4-6 wines)).

Lake Garda afternoon (the largest lake in Italy at 370 km² — 30-40 min west of Verona by car; the most visited lake in Italy): the Garda southern shore (the Lazise, Bardolino (the Bardolino DOC red wine), Peschiera del Garda and Sirmione (the most visited town on Lake Garda: the Grotte di Catullo (the 1st-century BCE Roman villa of the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus — the most extensive Roman villa complex in northern Italy; the Catullus poems ("Carmina") include the famous address to his home on Sirmione ("Sirmio, gemmarum insularum ocelle" — "Sirmione, jewel of islands and peninsulas"); the Scaligero Castle of Sirmione (the 13th-century Scaligeri fortress built on a rock outcrop in the lake with the castle walls extending into the water — the most visited castle in northern Italy; one of the most photographed medieval sites in Italy); the thermal spa of Sirmione (the thermal waters of Sirmione — the hot sulphurous springs at 69°C that the ancient Romans used for therapeutic bathing and that the modern spa hotels still use; the Aquaria Thermal Spa is the most important thermal establishment on Lake Garda)); the Garda wine (the Bardolino DOC (the light red from the eastern Garda shore — the Corvina and Rondinella grape; lighter than Valpolicella, the "Beaujolais of the Veneto"); the Lugana DOC (the white wine from the southern shore — the Turbiana/Trebbiano di Lugana grape; the most underrated white wine of northern Italy)).

Final Verona evening (the aperitivo culture of Verona — the most important pre-dinner ritual in Veneto): the spritz (the Aperol Spritz (the most famous cocktail of Veneto and the aperitivo drink of all of northern Italy: the Aperol (the orange-and-rhubarb-bitter aperitivo liqueur from Padova) + Prosecco (the DOC sparkling wine from Veneto) + a splash of soda water served over ice with an orange slice; the spritz was invented in the Veneto when Austrian soldiers during the Habsburg occupation (1797-1866) diluted the strong Italian wines with water (spritzen = to spray in German); the Aperol Spritz (the most globally exported Italian cocktail; 100+ million servings/year worldwide) was created at the Padova Trade Fair in 1950)); the cicchetti (the Venetian tapas — the finger-food snacks served with the aperitivo in Veneto: the crostini with the bacalà mantecato (the creamed salt cod on toast), the sarde in saor (the sardines in sweet-sour onion marinade), the polpette di baccalà (the salt cod croquettes), the tramezzini (the white-bread triangular sandwiches with the prosciutto-and-artichoke or tuna-and-capers filling) — the most affordable and most convivial way to eat in Verona); the best aperitivo bars in the Piazza dei Signori and in the adjacent streets (the Enoteca Segreta, the Osteria al Duca, the Bottega del Vino (the historic Veronese wine bar established 1890 — the most important wine list in Verona: 2,500 labels, the definitive Amarone collection)).