VERONA, PADUA, AND VICENZA

Oct. 31, 2024
Residenza al Castello, Verona, Italy

I left Puerto Vallarta about 11:00 on the morning of October 28th. The first leg of my journey took me to Dallas where I had only a short layover. About 17:00, we departed to fly to Heathrow Airport in London, arriving there about 7:20 the following morning. By that point, I had been traveling for twenty four hours and had about two hours of sleep. There was so little legroom on the plane that the seat only reclined about five degrees. It was nearly impossible to sleep.

The Hotel Riviera

Heathrow was the usual chaos. They herd everyone into a central area and don’t announce the boarding gates until about the time they start boarding. It’s always a mad dash to the gate. I got lucky and only had to run a short distance, this time. I fell asleep before we took off and managed to sleep for a couple of hours on my way to Milan’s Linate Airport. Linate is located in the Milan suburb of Segrate. The flight arrived at 13:15. Immigration and customs were easy. I had booked a room at the nearby Hotel Riviera, knowing that I would be exhausted upon arrival. I went straight to my hotel and napped for a couple of hours.

I got up about 17:00 and went out in search of a bank to get some euros. Google sent me about a kilometer along the highway (tough when you’re walking) to what turned out to be an automatic payment kiosk for a parking lot. I had to take the bike path and nearly got run over a few times. It was a pleasant fall afternoon for a walk, but there was NOTHING open and nowhere to get dinner. I ended up munching on the snacks I had left over from the flight and went back to sleep. I was in bed by 18:00 and slept until the following morning. I had been pooped.

Stazione Milano Centrale

The morning of the 30th, I got up and ate a nice breakfast in the hotel cafeteria. Their coffee machine didn’t really do decaf, so I ended up accidentally downing two caffeinated cappuccinos. I was flying! I took a taxi to the Milano Centrale train station. I had visited Milan, before, so wasn’t disappointed to skip it, this time. I couldn’t get into my lodging in Verona until 14:00, so I bought a ticket on the 12:30 train, left my luggage in the bag depository, and set out to kill a couple of hours in Milan.

My first mission was getting some cash. I didn’t have to walk too far from the station to find an ATM. There were several in the huge train station, but they looked like the touristy ones that charge high fees and might not be secure. I went to the nearest bank. The Stazione Milano Centrale is located next to a huge piazza. The weather was nice and I sat in the square, catching up on correspondence, and dodging the plethora of immigrant vendors trying to sell me a phone charger.

Apple Sculpture in Milan

There was a huge sculpture of an apple with what looks like a door stapled into it. I figured the sculptor must have had a bad experience with an iPhone. I sat in the square until it was time to collect my luggage and head for my train. Milano Centrale was a lot like Heathrow in that it was huge, crowded, and didn’t announce the platform until the last minute. I stood in front of the monitor for about forty minutes, waiting to find out where to go. Once I got to the platform, I didn’t have long to wait to board my train.

The train ride was just over an hour from Milan to Verona, about 200 kilometers. I read most of the way, having received three library books that I had had on hold for months all at the same time. I arrived at the Porto Nuovo station in Verona about 13:45 and had to walk a kilometer to my lodging. The area surrounding the station was under construction, making dragging a heavy suitcase and backpack loaded with electronics more of chore than usual. Sections of sidewalk were reduced to gravel. It was warm. The Porto Nuovo station is outside the city center because the railway was constructed for military use and connected military encampments, rather than cities. The going wasn’t a lot easier once I entered the downtown area because sidewalks were narrow, full of steps, and crowded with inconsiderate teenagers on the way home from school who didn’t care that an old lady with a heavy suitcase was trying to get through. I was soaked with sweat by the time I reached the Residenza al Castello. Then I had to heft my luggage up two flights of stairs. It was a relief to settle into my light and spacious room. The only room I could find in my price range was actually a triple room. It had two beds (queen and single) and a pleasant enclosed balcony off the back. There were even sufficient electrical outlets.

Residenza al Castello

I rested for an hour while I researched what to do in Verona. About 15:15, I set off to ride the hop on, hop off bus tour of Verona. My original plan was to complete both routes before the last bus at 18:30 and then eat dinner. I walked to the nearest stop across the street from Castelvecchio and waited for the 15:51 red line bus. I got there a little early, so ran across the road to check out the Adige River and the Arco del Gavi, a Roman funerial arch that once spanned the roadway but was demolished by the French when Napoleon occupied Verona. It was always intended to be salvaged, but had to wait until the 1930s before being reconstructed and restored in its current location beside the Adige. I waited for the bus for over an hour and finally gave up and took the 16:25 blue line bus.

Arco del Gavi

The River Adige

Verona at Sunset

The blue line crossed the old city and then drove over the Adige to visit a few sites outside of the old city. It stopped at the Giusti Gardens and passed the Roman Theater before climbing up the hill to Castel San Pietro. The driver stopped at the castle so that we could take in the stunning view of Verona as the sun set. After winding back down the hill (The blue line bus is necessarily small.), we entered medeival Verona and passed the Duomo and Piazza Signori before returning to the Castelvecchio. By that time, I didn’t have time to fit in the red line, so I remained on the bus to the end of the line at Piazza Bra and took a turn around the Piazza as the lights on the monuments came up. The Arena, a Roman amphitheater that once seated 30,000, predates the Colliseum in Rome and is still in use. It houses the opera season and concerts by prestigious artists.

The Arena in Verona

I had been in Italy for thrity hours and had yet to eat anything beside a continental breakfast. I selected a restaurant fronting the Piazza Bra and enjoyed the view of the Arena while I ate gnocchi with eggplant (Gnocchi is the specialty of Verona.) and drank a glass of local red wine.



Nov. 1, 2024
Residenza al Castello, Verona, Italy

Me on Juliet's Balcony

I had a lot to cover in my second day in Verona, so wanted to be at the tourism office to pick up my Verona discount card when they opened at 9:00. The office was just off the Piazza Bra, so I stopped into a sidewalk cafe for breakfast on my way there. I ordered a cappuccino and pancakes with pistachio butter and chopped pistachios. They were small but rich enough to suffice.

I picked up my card, only to discover that the Arena was closed for the next couple of days. I then boarded the first hop on, hop off red line bus of the day and rode it out to the train station, past the Porto Palio, past San Zeno, along the Adige past the castle, and got off near Juliet’s house. I had a reservation to tour the house at 11:00, so I wandered the surrounding shopping streets for a few minutes before my appointed time. The house is very old and mostly empty. I stepped out onto Juliet’s balcony and exchanged picture taking services with an Italian family. The only room that was really furnished was a room made up to look like Juliet’s bedchamber. It was nowhere near the balcony. Juliet’s house drew hordes of tourists, most of whom never got beyond the courtyard. I had to shoulder my way past them to get inside. After I left, I crossed the Adige and strolled along the bank to the Roman theater.

The Bank of the Adige

Juliet's Bedchamber

Verona’s Archaeological Museum is located in the former monastery of San Geronimo above the ruins of the theater. It’s quite a climb up steep stairs to get there, but you get to climb through the theater and the views of Verona and the Adige are panoramic. You can see two thousand years of history from there. The museum housed the usual collection of Roman sculpture and building fragments. Most interesting, to me, were the tiny Roman bronze figures and the monastery intself.

The Roman Theater in Verona

Verona was constructed at the juncture of four major trade routes: Genoa to the Roman port of Aquileia, Milan to Venice, south to north into Germany, and the Adige, itself a navigable waterway. Today, it still sits at the intersection of two major highways. It changed hands many times before the unification of Italy in the 19th century. It’s wealth and importance is reflected in the many fine churches and public buildings. The Arena once seated 30,000, about the entire population of Verona at the time.

Roman Rubble

Verona from the Museum

San Zeno

San Zeno Altarpiece

San Zeno Cloister

I waited for the red line bus after visiting the Archaeological Museum and rode it back across town to San Zeno. Built between 1120 and 1138, San Zeno is a spectacular example of Romanesque architecture. It is richly embellished both within and without. The ancient and intricate bronze doors are no longer in use but can still be admired. The ceiling was constructed like a ship’s hull. The crypt sports delicate columns and houses the remains of San Zeno, the patron saint of Verona. Built before the advent of stained glass, the rose window holds clear glass, making the interior quite bright. The walls were once decorated with frescos, most of which are damaged or absent. In places you can see where one fresco covered an older one. In other places you can see fourteenth century graffitti. The altar piece is sensational. It was stolen by Napoleon and taken to France. It was later returned, but the originals of the lower panels are today found in the Louvre.

Fourteenth Century Graffitti

I got back on the bus after visiting San Zeno and rode it to Castelvecchio. This fourteenth century castle sits on the bank of the Adige. It is accessed by an actual drawbridge across a now dry moat. Today, it houses an impressive collection of renaissance art. I was more interested in the weaponry displayed in the castle keep. The one piece of art that really interested me had no explanation. It was a molded and painted glass piece that I suspect was of modern origin, although it mirrored a renaissance panel hung nearby.

Castelvecchio

Having spent twenty one years living amongst glass artists in Benicia, glass art always catches my eye.

Mysterious Glass Art

Castelvecchio Yard

Castelvecchio Battlements

The castle, itself, was also fascinating. I climbed up to walk along the battlements. The matching bridge over the Adige was destroyed during World War Two, but has been reconstructed. By the time I finished climbing all over the castle, it was all I could do to stumble back down the hill to my lodging for a rest. I had only walked a little over four miles but all the stairs got to me. I was either going to get in shape or cripple myself on this trip.

After a few hours of computer work, I ventured out to find dinner. La Cruz, where I live, has pretty good Italian food but no Asian food other than sushi. I indulged in pad thai and gyoza. The restaurant was too busy to spare me a table, but I got food to go and ate it on my enclosed balcony. It was divine.

Nov. 2, 2024
Residenza al Castello, Verona, Italy

I had intended to go to Padua on Saturday but discovered that the Capella degli Scrovegni was closed on Saturday. Neither was I able to make a reservation to see it on Friday, but I decided to go early and hope a place might be available if I got there early.

Chiesa degli Eremitani

I left my lodging at 7:30 and hoofed it over to the train station. I caught an

Eremitani Frescoes

 8:20 regional train to Padua. The train was packed with commuters and people were sitting in the stairwells. My train was an express and only stopped a couple of times. I got to Padua just after 9:00 and made a beeline for the Capella degli Scrovegni. Unfortunately, there were no spots available. I was disappointed. Giotto had painted the frescoes in the early fourteenth century and the colors appeared to have remained vibrant from the pictures I saw. Having failed at that mission, I was free to wander at my leisure. I stopped into the neighboring Chiesa degli Eremitani. The church was built in the late thirteenth century and featured numerous frescoes and some elaborately carved tombs.

Padua is a university town. Scholars from all over Europe were drawn there and on occasion imprisoned there to keep them from taking their expertise elsewhere. Gallileo made his discoveries in Padua. Today the town is a not always harmonious mix of the old and the new. My first impression was not favorable, but the place grew on me as I walked 9.25 miles through its streets.

Piazza dei Signori in Padua

With no particular agenda, I stopped into a cafe for a lemon Danish (They call them “brioche” here. Don’t tell the French.) and a cappuccino. I had skipped breakfast in my eagerness to get to Padua. Then I wandered through narrow streets to the Piazza dei Signori and on to the Duomo. Despite having been partially designed by Michelangelo, the main portal was uninspired and actually rather ugly. The interior was airy and light, if rather plain. Built in 1552, it stands on the site of an earlier cathedral. The domed adjacent domed baptistry dates back to 1200. The interior architecture was so much more interesting than the outside that I wormed my way through narrow alleys behind the church, searching for a more attractive view. The back of the church was certainly more attractive than the plain, brick facade, but it

Cathedral Interior

The Unimposing Cathedral in Padua

was buried in the town and almost impossible to photograph effectively.

Rear of the Cathedral

The Basilica of Sant'Antonio

Sant'Antonio from the Cloister

My next stop was the Basilica of Sant’ Antonio. This church was as intricately decorated as the Duomo was plain. Built in the thirteenth century to house the remains of St. Anthony, every corner of it was gorgeous. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed. There was a long line to visit the beautifully carved, white marble tomb of St. Anthony. Most of the visitors seemed to feel a personal connection to the saint and reached out to touch his tomb. The basilica had a beautiful cloister that housed a museum, as well as restrooms and a separate confession facility. A famous, fifteenth century, bronze, equestrian statue by Donatello, called the Gattamelata, normally stands in the plaza outside the church, but it was undergoing restoration. The statue had been disassembled and hidden during the World Wars and had thus escaped unscathed.

Goethe's Palm

The Hollow Sycamore

The Greenhouses at the Botanical Garden in Padua

The University of Padua was famed for its school of medicine and its botanical garden, the first such garden, was originally designed to cultivate medicinal herbs. Since its founding in 1545, it has expanded to include non-medicinal plants as botany became a discipline separate from medicine. Today, it includes immense, self-regulating greenhouses for the cultivation of plants from tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, and arid climes. The botanical garden offered a very interesting free audioguide along with admission and the museum was well designed and very interesting. Goethe was inspired by the garden and wrote his Metamorphosis of Plants there. The oldest tree in the garden is a fan palm that is now named after Goethe. The second oldest tree is a hollow sycamore that was scarred by lightning but has still grown to a great height. The garden was a pleasant place to spend a warm afternoon.

The Basilica of Sant'Antonio from the Botanical Garden

Prata della Valle

The Prata della Valle is a public park nearby the botanical garden and the Basilica of Sant’Antonio. Padua is traversed by canals and one encircles an island in the center of the park. The island is reached by bridges and circled by statuary. The park was teeming with people enjoying the fall sunshine.

It was a hike back to the train station from Prata della Valle. I stopped to

Canal in Padua

visit the original university building of Palazzo Bo and the Palazzo della Ragione, built in 1218 to serve as a law court. I followed a tranquil canal out of the main town to the station and collapsed into the train. The return trip was slightly less crowded than the morning commute, but still busy.

The Palazzo Bo

My feet were very sore by the time I returned to Verona and the kilometer walk to my lodging was torture. I had leftover Thai food, but I craved beer. I couldn’t find a place to buy any between the station and my place. I continued up the road as far as the castle and still couldn’t find a market or liquor store. Finally, across from my lodging, I poked my head into what appeared to be a Chinese junk shop and spied a cooler with beer. Success! I ate my leftover Thai food with a cold beer and sat down to write.

This morning, I once again made an early trek to the train station. I was very sore and wondered if I would adapt to all this walking or simply collapse. I took the 8:41 train to Vicenza. Early on Saturday morning, the train was nearly empty. This train was the milk run. We stopped in every little town. It was nearly 10:00 by the time we reached Vicenza, which was only about half as far as Padua.

The Monte Berico Steps

Monte Berico

There wasn’t as much to see in Vicenza and some of the sights were too far out of town for me to reach on foot. My first destination was Monte Berico, a hill just outside of town where the wealthy had built villas. A church had been built on top of the hill to commemorate the supposed appearance of the Virgin Mary who announced that Vicenza would be spared from the plague in 1426-28. A covered ramp led from the bottom of the hill near the train station to the church. Each landing was occupied by homeless people, causing many walkers to elect to take the path parallelling the covered ramp. At the top, there was an overlook with a panoramic view of Vicenza. A mass was being celebrated in the church when I arrived, so I stopped in a cafe for a hot chocolate and a doughnut. The chocolate had as much whipped cream as cocoa, but I needed an alternative to cappuccino as I am supposed to avoid coffee.

My Cioccolata

Villas on Monte Berico

View from Monte Berico

Monte Berico Interior

                 

Canal in Vicenza

Mass was over by the time I finished my breakfast, and I was able to visit the pretty church. This church had a small stained-glass window, the first I had seen, so far. Then I strolled back down the hill, past the station, and across Vicenza to the Piazza dei Signori. Vicenza also has some lovely bridges and canals. The Piazza dei Signori borders the Palazzo della Ragione, hung with so many red, white, and green flags that I felt like I was back in Mexico. Next to that, rises the twelfth century Torre di Piazza. It was tough to fit it into a single frame as the piazza was only so big and I couldn’t back up further.

Palazzo della Ragione

Torre di Piazza

Santa Corona

My next stop was the church of Santo Stefano, but it was closed. Around the corner, I found Santa Corona, a gothic church built in the thirteenth century to house a thorn from Jesus’ crown. It was an exceptionally richly decorated church. The altarpiece was all decorated with colorful inlaid marble unlike anything I had seen elsewhere in Europe. The chapel dedicated to the Virgin was large and the paintings exceptionally vivid.

Inlaid Marble Altarpiece

Chapel of the Virgin

Teatro Olimpico

From Santa Corona, I continued down the main shopping street to the Teatro Olimpico at the far end of town. The theater, the oldest surviving indoor theater in Europe, was built in the late sixteenth century, but looks older. It was located on a pleasant park next to the City Museum and I sat on a bench in the shade and rested my feet. Then I trekked back up the shopping street and out to the church of San Lorenzo. Somehow, I missed the cathedral. I was tired. San Lorenzo was sufficiently grand. The carved stone over the main portal was exceptionally delicate. Despite being the church of San Lorenzo, it seemed more dedicated to San Francisco. His statue in the chapel devoted to him seemed to glow in the sunlight. The cloister featured more tributes to San Francisco.

The Church of San Lorenzo

Stone Carving in San Lorenzo

San Francisco

The Cloister at San Lorenzo

My train ride home was shorter, and I was back in Verona by 15:00. I immediately took a nap and then worked on the computer for a couple of hours before dashing across the street to pick up a pizza. Pizza is quite reasonable, here. I got a medium sized, thin-crust pizza margherita for six euros. Even on the Piazza Bra, a pizza margherita cost only seven euros. I enjoyed the pizza with the second beer purchased the night before and settled down to write until bedtime.

Nov. 4, 2024
Vista su San Luca Apartments, Bologna, Italy

I Giardini Giusti

My last day in Verona was a Sunday and I didn’t have much on my agenda. I ate a leisurely breakfast in the Piazza Bra and then crossed the Adige to visit the Giardini Giusti, a sixteenth century garden and palazzo. The lower garden was very structured with a maze on the right side and French style formal garden on the left of a cypress lined central alley. The back of the garden occupied a forested rocky outcrop. It was reached by climbing a circular staircase inside a turret. There were marvelous views of Verona from what was called the Belvedere. A windstorm in 2020 had taken a heavy toll on the garden’s cypresses and many had fallen. The gaps were filled with young trees but many of the remaining ones were guyed to trees of species with deeper roots. I spent a couple of hours exploring the garden and just sitting in the sun.

View from the Belvedere at the Giusti Gardens

The "Grotesque" at Giusti Gardens

I almost missed visiting the palazzo, but spied the entrance while searching for a restroom. 

Horseshoe Furniture

The Duomo in Verona

One half of the upper floor was occupied by a ballroom. The other half had been occupied into the twentieth century. Someone must have loved horses because there was a sitting room furnished entirely with pieces made from giant, wooden horseshoes.

After leaving the gardens, I walked along the Adige, past the Roman theater, and crossed the river to visit the Duomo. The cathedral was begun in 1139 and forms a complex with an eighth century baptistry and the smaller Church of Santa Elena. Santa Elena was built on the site of an earlier church and there was a large opening in the floor to allow visitors to see the mosaic of the floor of the earlier church. As Verona grew, successively larger churches were required. The cathedral was unique in that the altar was surrounded by a circular collonade. Chapels added during the renaissance were quite elaborate.

Cathedral's Unique Altar

Cathedral Interior

8th Century Baptistry

I visited a bank to withdraw some cash and then headed back to my lodging to rest my feet and wait for my friend, Sally, to arrive. 

Sally got in about 17:30. I took her for a quick walk around the Castelvecchio neighborhood and we crossed the bridge to the new, residential side of Verona where we had a lovely view of the castle. We made our way back across the next bridge and over to Piazza Bra so that Sally could get Italian food and we could enjoy wine while we caught up on news of mutual friends and shared a tiramisu for desert.

Castelvecchio at Night