Verona Amphitheatre, Verona, Italy

The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre built in 1st century. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. In ancient times, nearly 30,000 people was the housing capacity of the Arena.

The building itself was built in AD 30 on a site which was then beyond the city walls. The round façade of the building was originally composed of white and pink limestone from Valpolicella, but after a major earthquake in 1117, which almost completely destroyed the structure's outer ring, except for the so-called 'ala', the stone was quarried for re-use in other buildings. Nevertheless it impressed medieval visitors to the city, one of whom considered it to have been a labyrinth, without ingress or egress.

The first interventions to recover the arena's function as a theatre began during the Renaissance. Some operatic performances were later mounted in the building during the 1850s, owing to its outstanding acoustics. In 1913, operatic performances in the arena commenced in earnest due to the zeal and initiative of the Italian opera tenor Giovanni Zenatello and the impresario Ottone Rovato.

In recent times, the arena has also hosted several concerts of international rock and pop bands.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Adriana Perez (2 years ago)
Arena di Verona is a predecessor to the Roman Colosseum so it is quite an interesting display of architecture. It can easily be deemed as smaller scale Colosseum with a little less charm and a lot less hype. The place was desolate since I visited during the winter, but it was clean and very appealing. Nice views from the upper decks and definitely a great building with lots of history.

Marija K (2 years ago)
Place to see. It’s location in an old city is impressive as a whole. It should be amazing in spring or sunny day or with an event taking place there. You barely expect something like this behind the city walls.

Roxy Miskiewicz (2 years ago)
I loved this arena. It was nice to be able to walk all the way around it. February is the perfect time of year to visit Verona as it was so much quieter. I would 100% come back here to watch an opera in the future

Rui Carvalho (2 years ago)
Beautiful Roman times Arena. Most famous for its open air operas in the summer. Me and my wife were lucky enough to go there at sunset while at same time a hot air balloon was taking people for a short ride up just outside the arena on the plaza. We got some beautiful pics of it all - magical. The toilets though are not well taken care of, and could have a redo completely. Also the inner parts of the arena could be a bit more well taken care of. Still, a magical place.

Lars Jensen (2 years ago)
It is a stunningly beautiful structure. Take a walk around the arena and carefully watch how the ancient building was made, using cleaver features, that you aslo see in the modern stadiums today. It is fascinating to observe and image how the arena was built. It is fairly cheap to enter the arena, but for some it can be a dull experience, because of the arena being partly closed off due to the concerts taking place in the arena. If you have time. Try walk by the arena during the evening where the lights have come on.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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