The local Swiss train took us to the border at Chiasso. I tried to buy a coffee at a machine, which would neither dispense coffee nor return my money. An Italian woman stopped by and hit and kicked the machine on our behalf, all to no avail. A late arrival from Chiasso necessitated a dash through Milano Centrale station (that might quailfy us for the Olympics) to catch the next train to Verona.
Verona is home to a Roman Arena (circa 100 C.E.) that hosts an opera festival each summer. While dining by the Arena, we spied a group of women in stylized Egyptian dress walking through the square, presumably after a rehearsal. They wore backpacks and were noodling with their phones. We strolled over the two Roman bridges in town spanning the Adige river, which was flowing fast and muddy around town, suggesting recent rains upriver (1).
Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona. A house in the center of town is touted as the location of the balcony scene in Shakespeare's play. The courtyard also contains a bronze statue of Juliet. A 30ish German couple approached us: "Did anything actually happen here?" "I doubt it, the story is fictional" I replied (2). The guy seemed to think it was a clever move of the homeowner to claim his home was the site mentioned in the play and to charge admission to go inside (3).
Back in the main plaza, we wandered around to the east side of the arena to discover we were basically backstage amid disassembled sets for other operas. While holding 30,000 spectators in Roman times, half the arena is now the opera stage, so current capacity is about 15,000.
When the performance of Aida began at 8:45, our attention alternated between the action on stage and the light show to the north as frequent vivid lightning flashed among the clouds (4) (5). Thankfully, the storm stayed to the north. The opera was quite a spectacle, with enormous sets, and vibrant costumes. The singers projected their voices (with no microphones) all the way up to our ears at the top of the arena, a tribute both to their voices and to the Roman's knowledge of acoustics in designing the arena. The performance ended at midnight.
(1) Coincidentally, the headwaters of the Adige are at the interesecting point of Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, where we had planned to hike yesterday, but.went elsewhere due to the expected rain storms.
(2) Although an acquaintance of mine renewed her marriage vows on the balcony in June.
(3) There is even a supposed tomb of Juliet in town.
(4) We scored seats in the back row at the top of the arena, so we had a fine view of the lightning.
(5) There is a protocol to postpone the performance up to 2 1/2 hours in case of rain.
Verona City gate
Roman-era bridge
Roman road below current grade
"Juliet's balcony"
In the town
Statue of Juliet.
Apparently, It's a thing to take a selfie touching her breast, hence the shine on that part of the statue
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