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.

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Address

Via Leone Gaetano Patuzzi 9, Verona, Italy
See all sites in Verona

Details

Founded: c. 30 AD
Category: Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Italy

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
www.arena.it

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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User Reviews

Adriana Perez (5 months 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 (5 months 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 (5 months 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 (5 months 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 (5 months 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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