Teatro Romano

The Teatro Romano stands on the bank of the Adige in Verona, among the oldest structures in the city. Builders laid it out in the late first century BC, more than two thousand years ago. The river dictated the first move: walls went up between the Ponte di Pietra and the Ponte Postumio to hold back floods. What survives today is a fragment of a far larger structure. It is the open-air theatre, not the Arena, the big Roman amphitheatre you may have heard of.

Recovery work began around 1830, lifting the ruins back into daylight. Today you can pick out the cavea, the tiers where audiences sat, along with loggia arcades and parts of the original stage. Look up the hill and you spot where an ancient temple once stood, set across terraces as a dramatic backdrop. The church of San Siro claimed part of those tiers in the tenth century, and a fourteenth-century restoration followed. Roman stonework, a medieval church and later repairs layer together in one place.

Performances have run on this spot for centuries. Since 1948 the Estate Teatrale Veronese has filled the summer with Shakespeare, jazz concerts and dance. The council founded it in homage to the playwright who set Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew here. Each season takes a new theme, sometimes drawn from water, earth or air. Some of the biggest names in Italian theatre have appeared on these steps. Run a hand over the stone: centuries of audiences have worn it smooth, and the Adige slides past behind the stage.