Romeo and Juliet are fictional, yet Verona has given them a house, a balcony and even a tomb that draws crowds. The real story is a different one: that of the Della Scala, a family who in the fourteenth century made this city the capital of a small state, through patronage, conquest and brothers who murdered one another. Thirteen stops between Juliet's empty tomb, the Roman amphitheatre, the castle of a frightened lord, the bridge rescued from the river, the balcony from the 1930s, the forum turned market, Dante's square, the open-air tombs of the Scaligeri, the church of Saint George and the hunchbacks, the cathedral of two popes, the Roman bridge, Shakespeare's theatre and the hill above Veronetta. Approximate audio duration: 22 minutes.
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Verona: la Julieta que nunca existió y los señores de la escalera que sí
Romeo y Julieta son personajes de ficción, pero Verona les dio una casa, un balcón y hasta una tumba que visitan multitudes. La historia real es otra: la de los Della Scala, una familia que en el siglo XIV hizo de esta ciudad la capital de un pequeño estado, entre mecenazgo, conquistas y hermanos que se asesinaban entre sí. Trece paradas entre la tumba vacía de Julieta, el anfiteatro romano, el castillo de un señor con miedo, el puente rescatado del río, el balcón de los años treinta, el foro convertido en mercado, la plaza de Dante, las tumbas al aire libre de los Scaligeri, la iglesia de San Jorge y los jorobados, la catedral de los dos papas, el puente romano, el teatro de Shakespeare y la colina sobre Veronetta. Duración aproximada de audio: 22 minutos.
Tour stops
13 stops · ~22 min of audio · 4.07 km on foot (~1 h walking) · about 1 h 30 min in total
You are in the cloister of a former Franciscan convent, just south of Verona's centre. Go down into the crypt. There you will find a sarcophagus of red marble, open, lidless and empty. They call it Juliet's tomb.
Let's begin with the awkward part. Juliet Capulet never existed. Neither did Romeo. They are fictional characters, and Shakespeare did not even invent them.
The story was already circulating in Italy. Around 1530, Luigi da Porto, a writer from Vicenza, set it in Verona in the days of a lord of the Della Scala family, and gave the lovers the names Romeo and Giulietta. In 1554 Matteo …
2
An Amphitheatre Older Than Everything Else
You are in Piazza Bra, facing the Arena. It is a Roman amphitheatre from the first century, built around the year 30, when Verona was a prosperous city of the empire.
It could hold some thirty thousand people. Gladiator fights and hunts of wild animals were staged here.
Look at the tall piece of wall with four arches rising on one side. The Veronese call it the Ala, the wing. It is all that remains of the outer ring. The rest came down in the earthquake of 1117.
The inner tiers, on the other hand, survived. For centuries, the ground-floor arches housed workshops and storerooms.
In 1913, to…
3
The Castle of a Frightened Lord
In front of you stands Castelvecchio, a red-brick castle with swallowtail battlements. Cangrande II della Scala had it built from 1354.
To understand it, you need to know the family. The Della Scala, or Scaligeri, came to power in 1262, when Mastino I was named captain of the people. He was murdered in 1277, but his descendants held the city for more than a century.
Their emblem was a ladder, scala in Italian. You will see it repeated all over Verona.
Cangrande II was not loved. In 1354, while he was away from the city, his half-brother Fregnano rebelled and tried to seize power. After that…
4
The Bridge Hauled Up from the Riverbed
You are standing on the Ponte Scaligero, the brick and marble bridge that crosses the Adige from the castle. It was part of the same project by Cangrande II.
It has three arches. The largest spans almost forty-nine metres, an enormous reach for a fourteenth-century bridge.
It was not meant for the city. It was the lord's private exit to the far bank and, from there, to the roads leading north.
In April 1945, as they retreated, German troops blew up every bridge in Verona. This one ended up at the bottom of the river.
After the war the city decided to rebuild it exactly as it had been. The …
5
The Balcony from the 1930s
You are in the courtyard of Juliet's House on Via Cappello. It is probably packed with people gazing up at a stone balcony and queuing for a photo beside a bronze statue.
The house is medieval and belonged to the Dal Cappello family. Look at the arch leading into the courtyard: a hat is carved on it, cappello in Italian. The name sounds like Capuleti, and that was enough to create the legend.
The city bought the house in the early twentieth century. The balcony was added in the 1930s, during a restoration designed with visitors in mind. A curious detail: the word balcony never appears in Sha…
6
The Roman Forum That Became a Market
You are in Piazza delle Erbe, a long square full of market stalls and surrounded by palaces with painted façades. Beneath your feet lay the forum of Roman Verona.
Look at the fountain in the middle. The female statue is called Madonna Verona. It is a Roman sculpture, restored and completed in the Middle Ages, and it was set up here in 1368 on the orders of Cansignorio della Scala.
At the far end, the battlemented building is the Domus Mercatorum, the merchants' house. Alberto I della Scala had it built in 1301. The Scaligeri knew their power depended on trade.
The towering campanile is the …
7
Dante, Guest of the Ladder
You are in Piazza dei Signori. In the middle stands a white statue of a stern man wrapped in a cloak. It is Dante Alighieri, placed here in 1865, six hundred years after his birth.
All around were the buildings of power: the palace of the Scaligeri, the seat of justice, the city council. This square was where Verona was governed.
Dante came to Verona as an exile from Florence. He was first welcomed by Bartolomeo della Scala, around 1303. In the Paradiso he wrote that his first refuge and first lodging would be the courtesy of the great Lombard.
Years later he returned, under Cangrande I, an…
8
Open-Air Tombs and Murderous Brothers
In front of you are the Arche Scaligere, the monumental tombs of the lords of the ladder. They stand outdoors, beside the little church of Santa Maria Antica, behind a wrought-iron screen.
Look closely at the screen: it is made of tiny interlocking ladders. The family emblem, repeated hundreds of times.
Above the church door is the tomb of Cangrande I. On top, a statue shows him on horseback, smiling, his helmet thrown back over his shoulders. It is a copy: the original is the one you saw in Castelvecchio.
Cangrande died in July 1329 in Treviso, a few days after conquering it. He was thirty…
9
Saint George, the Princess and the Hunchbacks
You are in front of Sant'Anastasia, the largest church in Verona. Its brick façade was never finished. Dominican friars began it in the late thirteenth century, and work went on into the fifteenth.
Step inside. The columns are of red Verona marble, and the vaults are painted with flowers and leaves.
Look at the two holy-water stoups by the first columns. Each is held up by a marble hunchback, the gobbi, carved between the late fifteenth and late sixteenth centuries. Tradition says touching the hump brings luck.
Now look to the right of the high altar for the Pellegrini Chapel. Above its ent…
10
The Cathedral of Two Popes
You are in front of the Duomo of Verona, the cathedral of Santa Maria Matricolare. Its Romanesque façade has a porch whose columns rest on stone griffins.
On either side of the door, look at the figures of two warriors. They are Roland and Oliver, Charlemagne's paladins. Roland's sword bears its name: Durindarda.
This cathedral was consecrated in 1187, and the man who consecrated it was a pope, Urban III. He had been elected right here in Verona in 1185, after his predecessor, Lucius III, died in the city. Lucius III is buried inside.
Go in and find the first chapel on the left. There hangs…
11
The Roman Bridge Rescued from the Water
You are standing on Ponte Pietra, the oldest bridge in Verona. Notice how it changes: the arches near the far bank are of pale Roman stone, while those on the city side are brick, from later rebuildings.
The Romans built it more than two thousand years ago, in the first century BC. For centuries it was one of the few crossings over the Adige.
The river's floods battered it again and again. Several arches collapsed during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and each time they were put back up.
In April 1945, like the Ponte Scaligero, it was blown up by retreating German troops.
In the 1950…
12
Shakespeare in a Roman Theatre
You are in front of the Roman Theatre, set into the slope of San Pietro hill on the left bank of the Adige. It was built at the end of the first century BC.
For centuries it lay buried beneath houses, gardens and streets. People were literally living on top of the seating.
In the nineteenth century a Veronese man, Andrea Monga, bought the houses covering it and began demolishing them to bring the theatre back to light. The city later carried on the excavations.
Above, among the ruins, is the former convent of San Girolamo, which now houses the archaeological museum.
Since 1948, every summe…
13
Veronetta, the Verona Across the River
You are on the terrace of Castel San Pietro, at the top of the hill. All of Verona lies below you: the bend of the river, Ponte Pietra, the bell towers, the Torre dei Lamberti and, in the distance, the Arena.
This hill was fortified many times. In the late fourteenth century the Visconti built a castle here. French troops blew it up in 1801, and the building you see is a barracks the Austrians put up in the mid-nineteenth century.
The district at your feet, on this bank, is Veronetta. Its modern story begins in 1801: with the Treaty of Lunéville, the Adige became a border. The right bank wen…
How long does the "Verona: the Juliet Who Never Lived and the Lords of the Ladder Who Did" audio tour take?
It has about 22 minutes of audio across 13 stops and a 4.07 km walking route (~1 h on foot). Plan roughly 1 h 30 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "An Empty Tomb for an Invented Girl" (coordinates 45.434, 10.9962). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Verona and pick "Verona: the Juliet Who Never Lived and the Lords of the Ladder Who Did". No account required to start.
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