On our way out of Vicenza, on to Verona

The second day of our trip was beautiful.  Mostly sunny and a few puffy clouds in the sky.  Les had finished with his committments and vacation began (for him anyway, I was already on vacation!).  On our way out of Vicenza we decided to check out one of the famous Villas on the outskirts of town - Villa Almerico Capra, also known as La Rotonda. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello was inspired by Palladio's Rotonda.

Villa Almerico Capra

After taking in the Villa we hit the road headed to Verona.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
~Prologue, Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare

Looking north from a bridge crossing the Adige River

And south...

We arrived in Verona just in time for lunch.  Once we found a place to park our car we headed to Piazza Bra' and the Roman Arena. We picked out a cafe with a fantastic view of the Arena and ordered lunch.

My view while I ate lunch

After we finished eating we walked around the awesome structure that is Verona's Roman Arena and then proceeded to follow Rick Steve's Verona Town Walk to take in as many sights as possible.  We only had a couple of hours and wanted to make the most of them.

The Roman Arena

Porta Borsari - the main entrance to Roman Verona

Looking down a side street off of Corso Porta Borsari

Old, dusty bottles inside Enoteca Oreste

Enoteca Oreste was once the private chapel of the Archbishop of Verona.  Between the bottles and on the ceiling you can still see vestiges of the rooms' past.

Piazza Erbe, the Forum in Roman times

The final sight that we visited in Verona was the House of Juliet, as in Romeo & Juliet. Did Juliet really exist?  The house is on Via Cappello, the street of the cap makers. Above the courtyard entry is a coat of arms featuring a hat representing a family that made hats and would logically be named Capulet.  While there is not documentation to prove the legend that this is indeed Juliet's house, there is no documentation to disprove it.

Juliet's Balcony

"Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name,
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

Verona was fantastic and I wish we could have spent more time there.  Alas, we had to turn back towards Venezia, return our rental car, and check into our hotel in Mestre.  We were tired and looking forward to two more days of vacation.  More pictures to come!