Things to do in Verona

Verona is compact and made for walking. The Roman Arena dominates Piazza Bra, Via Mazzini leads to Piazza delle Erbe and the Lamberti Tower, and Juliet's House sits a few steps away. On summer evenings the Arena di Verona Opera Festival turns the 2,000-year-old amphitheatre into the world's largest open-air opera stage.

Our editors' pick of the ten sights to build a first visit around, with an evening concert or opera to close the day:

Top Sights in Verona

Arena di Verona

Built around AD 30, the Roman amphitheatre once held 30,000 spectators. Since 1913 it hosts the Arena di Verona Opera Festival each summer, with Aida, Carmen and Nabucco under the

from €22

Piazza delle Erbe

The old Roman forum and still the liveliest square in town, ringed by frescoed houses, market stalls and cafés, watched over by the Lamberti Tower and the Venetian lion on its colu

Juliet's House

A 13th-century house with the famous balcony linked to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The courtyard is always busy; visit early or late for a quieter moment.

from €22

Lamberti Tower

At 84 metres the tallest tower in Verona. Take the lift or the 368 steps for a 360° view over the river, the Arena and the hills of Valpolicella.

Castelvecchio & Ponte Scaligero

The 14th-century Scaliger fortress houses a superb art museum redesigned by Carlo Scarpa. Its crenellated brick bridge across the Adige is one of the city's most photographed views

Basilica di San Zeno

A masterpiece of Romanesque architecture with bronze doors, a rose window known as the Wheel of Fortune and Mantegna's altarpiece. Legend places Romeo and Juliet's wedding in its c

Verona Cathedral

The Duomo combines a Romanesque façade with a Gothic interior and Titian's Assumption. The complex includes the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte and the cloister of the canons.

Scaliger Tombs

Gothic funerary monuments of the della Scala family, who ruled Verona in the 13th and 14th centuries, enclosed by wrought-iron railings bearing their ladder emblem.

Castel San Pietro

Cross the Roman Ponte Pietra and ride the funicular or climb the steps to the hilltop terrace for the classic sunset panorama over Verona's rooftops and the river bend.

Giardino Giusti

One of Italy's finest Renaissance gardens, with cypress avenues, a hedge maze, grottoes and a belvedere that has charmed visitors from Goethe to Mozart.