Verona at Christmas - with Mantua and Padua

Beyond the fictional details of character and action in Romeo and Juliet there lies a historical truth. The picture of turbulence and factional strife bears a much closer resemblance to the actuality of medieval Verona than to Shakespeare’s own Elizabethan London. Passion and violence and the fierce rivalries of class and clan are vividly expressed by the architecture of Verona – though shorn now of the stark realities of struggle and power-play, it is the magnitude of ambition and beauty of design which shine through.

Verona’s sequence of ancient squares and dense web of streets and alleys are as impressive and enthrallingly picturesque as any in Italy. The great civic buildings and many of the churches were erected during the era of relatively democratic communal government, which coincided with the age of Romanesque. Here the austere nobility of bulk and line is softened by the pinks and creams of the building stone, and enlivened by some of the finest sculpture of the time.

The debilitating struggle between the real-life counterparts of Capulets and Montagues allowed the commune to be usurped by one of the most tyrannical of Italian city-state dynasties, the della Scala. By then, Gothic had become prevalent. Even the most intimidatingly defensible dwellings were blessed by an ineffable grace with delicate mullions, swallowtail battlements and crimson brickwork.

After incorporation in the Venetian Empire, artistic embellishment continued. Pisanello, Mantegna, Titian and of course Veronese, a native of the city, have left paintings here, and Renaissance architecture makes many pleasing appearances. But Verona is far older than the upstart of the lagoon. The presence of the second-largest surviving amphitheatre of the ancient world – and excellently preserved roman theatre, bridge and city gates – demonstrate the importance of the colonia in the Roman world.

The River Adige, draining waters from the Dolomites, scours an S-bend through the city and affords pleasing prospects, as do the bluffs on the eastern rim. Looking across the towers and terracotta roofs from up here it is difficult to imagine that Verona was ever other than a haven of peace and civilized values.