Tour to the Arena and the wonders of Verona

Arena Verona Opera Festival

The Fondazione Arena di Verona presents the 95th edition of the Opera Festival, which will take place in the historic location of the Arena from 23 June to 27 August 2017. The Lyric Festival will open with the opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi. The program will then enrich with other famous operas including Aida, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly and Tosca.

Among the most expected events of the Festival we remember Roberto Bolle and Friends, on Monday 17 July, who returns to make us dream in the wonderful scenery of the Veronese Arena, one the most beautiful amphitheater in the world. A homage to the ballet and to contemporary dance.

Placido Domingo will come on stage on 21 July with a single date Gala: the tenor will sing the more touching arias from the Spanish popular tradition. On the 15 August will be a Gala Evening with the Beethoven’s Symphony No 9. On stage will perform the choir and the Orchestra of Arena di Verona, who will offer to the public, between light games, the beloved symphony celebrating the ideals of universal brotherhood and freedom.

Curiosity

The Arena di Verona is the first theater in Italy awarded with the Welcome Chinese certification, a new model for the tourist hospitality dedicated especially to Chinese travelers. It ensures uniformity in the quality of the service and facilitates the access to the Chinese industry of tourism in the accommodating structure all over the world: hotels, apartments, means of transport, cultural heritage, parks, business activities, tourist operators.
The Arena di Verona is also accessible for people with disabilities, in some areas of the parterre and of the numbered bleachers.

What better opportunity, then, to reach Verona during the festival, to be able to admire not only the Opera but also the wonders of the city?

The Ratherian iconography

A short introduction on the Ratherian iconography: Ratherius from Liege was Bishop of Verona in the 10th century and portrayed graphic representations, icons and maps representing the city as he saw it, or at least as he wanted it. In the following centuries, historians, researchers and painters have then duplicated the Ratherian Iconography. They highlighted the aspects of the city and some locations: among them, the icon of the river Adige gushing from the mouth of an old man and then dividing the city in two parts, with a text, the ancient poem on the magnificence of Verona, shown as an ideal city.

No language could tell the beauties of this city:
inside it shines, outside it glimmers, wrapped in an aura of light.
(Versus de Verona, strofe 6)

In the city

We begin from Piazza Bra, dominated by the imposing Roman Arena and then we move to the unmissable Piazza delle Erbe, the ancient Roman Tribunal that nowadays guest the daily traditional fruit and vegetable market.

For all opera lovers, it is essential to visit Palazzo Forti, seat of the Museum of the Opera in Verona: AmoArena MuseOpera: historical paths, documentaries and multimedia to illustrate the creative path bringing to the mie-en-scene of an Opera. The visitors will concentrate on the genesis of the Opera, from librettos to the historical photos, from scores to the most evocative set designs, AmoArena MuseOpera in a unique place in the world, unmissable for those who want to deepen the themes linked to opera, it knows np boundaries and age.

Leaving for a while the Opera world, but in relationship with the world of literature, we suggest a visit in Via Cappello, 23. Here you can find the courtyard of the house of Juliet and its evocative balcony, one of the most visited location in Italy and in the world, remembering the most famous and romantic drama of all times, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Outside the city

To continue and to finish with style the historical roman path started between Piazza Bra and Piazza delle Erbe in Verona, we suggest a visit to Sirmione. Here you can enjoy the wonderful scenery of the archaeological area of the Catullo caves, on the promontory of Sirmione, a famous place on the shores of Lake Garda. The Catullo caves preserve the remains of one of the largest residential villas of the Roman epoch in the north of Italy, surrounded by two hectares of a park with a historic olive grove and a small Archaeological Museum exhibiting finds coming from the area of Sirmione and Lower Garda.

At the end of the visit, it will be a pleasure to dive in the rich sulfurous salty-bromo-iodic thermal waters of the most exclusives spa resorts, on the shores of the lake in elegant locations of the highest quality. Among all we suggest the Grand Hotel Terme Sirmione*****.

Vip Limousine and the tour of Verona and surroundings

Vip Limousine, car rental service with driver in Milan, with its offices in the center of Milan, working every day 24/24, organizes itineraries in luxury car with driver, or on luxury minivans with driver, to Verona and Lake Garda. The tours are planned on the basis both of the desires of the Customer and of our decades of experience in this field: the best places to visit, the best restaurants where to eat, the best hotels to stay in. Every aspect of your luxury tour with driver will be organized in detail to make your stay unforgettable. For any information and further details please refer to the contact page.