Many are the wonders of Italy and each city and town has a distinct personality, but none of them stuck with me as Verona did. I don’t know how, but this city simply slipped into my heart and I can’t seem to let it go.

The outskirts of Verona as far from impressive, but as you approach the center of the city and drive under arches and along ancient city walls, a story starts to unfold.

Passing the Adige river over the Ponte Pietra, a bridge completed in 100 BC, you start to find pieces of the puzzle that is the great roman history.

When entering the old city’s gates, you have the feeling that you’ve left contemporary life behind and you’ve stepped into another life. Leaving aside the Vespas and the modern cars, the streets and building of Verona are the same as they were hundreds of year ago. And all I can say is that they are exquisite!

This is a city where new and old things live together in perfect harmony. Let’s not forget that the streets of Verona still preserve the footsteps of great people like Leonardo Da Vinci, Catullus or Antonio Salieri.

The 900 years old Sant’Anastasia cathedral is the first one I saw and I remained speechless at the sight of it’s beautiful decorations and the wonderful paintings spread across the ceiling.

We then moved to Piazza delle Erbe, that fosters one of the most ancient monuments in town: a fountain surmounted by a statue called Madonna Verona, which is a Roman sculpture dating to 380 AD.

The Torre dei Lamberti, situated near the piazza, was the first tower to get a bell in Verona, back in the 1400’s. It was even struck buy lightening, but it survived.

In the Piazza delle Erbe you can also see the Palazzo Maffei, 600 years old, completing the scene beautifully. Near it, you’ll also find the Casa dei Mercanti, a medieval edifice which used to be the home of the guild of the city’s merchants.

We then proceeded to the famous balcony where Juliet talked to Romeo, in the house of the Capulets, which was made famous by Shakespeare and became a place for pilgrimage for lovers all over the world. I was, however, not impressed. Maybe it was because of the high expectations I had from the place (I blame Letters to Juliet for that), maybe it was because of the large crowd and the noise, but it didn’t seem romantic at all to me. In different circumstances, but I’d be thinking otherwise. But if you’re in Verona, it would be a shame not pass by. After all, it is a city where one can easily fall in love.

We also went under one of Verona’s porte, the Porta Borsari, which is one of the exquisite elements in the city’s architecture.

We ate in Piazza Antonio Tirrabosco, a lovely small square, quiet and perfectly warm and lit by sunshine, where I ate a delicious piadina and drank some delicious vino frizzante. I can completely understand why even Julius Caesar chose Verona for his relaxing stays. This city emerges you in a deep state of complete relaxation.

After that, we went to see the Arena of Verona, completed around 30 AD, which is the third largest in Italy, after Rome’s Colosseum and the arena at Capua. The Arena can fit 25,000 spectators in its 44 tiers of marble seats and it used to host the ludi (shows and gladiator games), which Italians from all over the country came to see. Now it is used for public events, fairs, theatre and open-aired opera during warm summer nights, which I’d love to see someday.

In Verona, I also discovered a Mercedes-Benz shop, filled with watches, bags and clothes, alongside a Mercedes cafe, where owners could talk and share opinions about their classy E Classes and their sporty SLKs, and where others could dream about owning one someday.

I even came across la Piazza 14 Novembre, which is exactly my birth date. Verona is certainly a place of many wonders and it would take more than a week to see and discover its stories. That is why I plan to return again, maybe even to live there for some time and take in all the lives and loves that unfolded in the street of the city.

As I left Verona, a part of me stayed behind and all of me fell in love with that marvelous place with a hear of its own.

More pictures, here.