Arena di Verona. Photo / EnneviFoto, Fondazione Arena di Verona
In one of the world’s most romantic cities, storied tales light up an ancient amphitheatre as arias soar to the stars, writes Jessica-Belle Greer.
They say the greatest love stories are eternal. This feels especially true in Verona, the Italian city that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Here you can walk (or dramatically run) from “Casa di Romeo” to “Casa di Giulietta”. As my husband and I followed in the fabled footsteps of the famed star-crossed lovers, whose story has inspired so many, my heart started to race, and it certainly wasn’t the final flutter.
Fair Verona is known as the “City of Love”, and we passed plenty of romantic lookouts and bridges (not just Juliet’s balcony) while wandering the streets hand-in-hand. But the most breathtaking scene was at the Arena di Verona. At the heart of the city and Unesco World Heritage Site, the Verona Arena is the largest Roman amphitheatre still in use.
A testament to Verona’s layers of history and imagination, the arena was built in the 1st century AD and hosted gladiator events. It’s remarkable the ancient structure still stands, let alone showcases full-scale operas for the annual Arena di Verona Opera Festival (Arena Opera Festival), which is rolling out its red carpet this year from June 13 to September 6.
Historically, there would have been a throng of up to 30,000 spectators in the stands, but the evening we visit, the Arena’s full capacity is 15,000, with one large curve of the stalls providing a natural backdrop for the stage set. We chose Poltrona (armchair) seats in the stalls and felt fully immersed in the concave setting, especially as the sun set and a colossal statue of the archangel Michael was dramatically lit.
While there are many beautifully-staged operas to attend each season, we had chosen the political thriller Tosca, seeing as it is by an Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini, and set in Rome, Italy, (unlike his Madame Butterfly in Japan or La Bohème in Paris) and, well, when in “Little Rome”.
Relatively new to opera, we didn’t know what to expect. Certainly not the dramatic turn of events in the opening scene, when we felt two raindrops, prompting the romantic leads to walk off stage. Fortunately, the dramatic clouds rolled away like painted props, and the show went on after a Prosecco under the arches of the arena (each opera typically has a back-up date if others are not so lucky).
As couples young and old cuddled up all around us, we could forgive the stars, Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo and Ruggero Raimondi, for wanting to protect their voices for an opera of such a grand scale under the real-life stars. The plot was fast-paced, and subtitle screens, in English and Italian, on both sides of the stage ensured we were not left behind.
There was one other unplanned plot twist, after a particularly emotionally charged song, when some in the crowd cried “encore” and the primo uomo re-did his entire solo. While encores in the middle of a performance are discouraged at established opera houses, such as La Scala in Milan, they can be accepted here.
For me, the cheeky grin of the singer at the re-set broke the “fourth wall”, that magic imaginary line between actors and audiences where they pretend we’re not there – but the heart wants what it wants, and the enjoyment from the crowd was genuine. In a surreal way, it reminded me of earlier works of theatre, including Shakespeare’s, where audience interaction was a crucial theatrical element. Like many of the great love stories in opera and theatre, Tosca is a tragedy, and the thunderous applause at the end of the opera was a shared cathartic relief.
As we left the glowing arena at midnight, we assumed we were all dressed up with nowhere to go. But on a stroll back to our boutique hotel, several street cafes were still open for nightcaps, paired, in our case, with Margherita pizza. The stop wasn’t essential, seeing as we’d already indulged before the show at Antica Bottega Del Vino, which had a red leather-bound wine list longer than Dante’s Divine Comedy.
This is fitting, given that the poet and writer Dante Alighieri had a home in Verona during the early 1300s, as it was becoming a leading cultural centre under Lord Cangrande I della Scala (and he could have crossed paths with the lovers that inspired Romeo and Juliet, with some creative licence).
The Arena di Verona Opera Festival itself is 111 years in play. The opening opera, in 1913, was another tragedy, Aida. It was chosen to mark the centenary of the birth of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. In 2025, Aida is back on the opera calendar, alongside classics like La Traviata and Nabucco, also by Verdi, with modern staging.
In a world of mindless movie streaming and double-screening, it’s inspiring to see the Veronesi applaud time-honoured theatrics and arias – and that millions of people will travel to one of the world’s most romantic cities to witness them once more. Encore!