Ponte Pietra, Verona
So, Verona! The day we arrived (last Friday) was long and tiring, but resulted in a lot of useful photos - and it ended with a delicious Italian dinner! The day began in Venice, where we enjoyed the Acqua Alta in the sunshine, re-visited the Basilica di San Marco inside and out, went up in the tower, retrieved our bags from the hotel, and caught the water bus to the train station. We then had a short train ride (about an hour) west to Verona.
When we got to our hotel around 3:30, the sun was still shining but on its way down toward a lot of clouds, so we threw down our bags and immediately headed back out. (Sarah is amazingly game for this sort of thing - she's never required to join me!) My goal was the church of San Zeno Maggiore, the most important Romanesque church in Verona and one of the churches I was most excited to see in Italy. I really wanted to make it there with the evening sun on the facade, so we took an exceptionally brisk 15-minute walk across town.
Good news: I made it in time!
Bad news: My mortal enemy, Scaffolding, got there first! I was so sad! But at least they covered it with a picture of the facade.
They also left gaps on either side of the door so that these wonderful sculptures were still partially exposed. So all the rushing over there was not entirely for nothing. This one shows Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus on their escape into Egypt.
Adam and Eve find a delicious snack
After 800 years, this guy seems to be rethinking his offer to hold up the arch for a minute
Monster lurking underneath the arch
The interior is pretty great, too. It's decorated with lots of nice patterns in pink and white stone, plus frescoes and sculptures. At the back, you can see the choir is raised to make room for a large crypt underneath.
Closer look at the double-decker arrangement
Fun sculptures and frescoes on the crypt arch
Capitals in the crypt - I have no idea what they mean!
View back toward the nave from the elevated choir
Up here is a slightly freaky statue of St. Zeno, namesake of the cathedral, who has a fish hanging from his bishop's staff and is smiling - unusual for a medieval statue. I think his body is in the crypt.
The very best feature of the church, for me, was the bronze door. After the facade, it was the main reason I was so excited to see this church. (I would say, "Yes, I'm a nerd," but I think that is patently obvious by now.) To quote myself from Sacred Destinations:
San Zeno's magnificent bronze doors, dating from the 12th century, are one of the great artistic highlights of Verona, decorated with 48 panels illustrating biblical stories and the lives of St. Michael and St. Zeno. These doors were some of the first castings in bronze made since Roman times.
So you see, they are quite nifty. They were really a challenge to photograph, though, because they are so dark and are located in a small porch without a whole lot of room to get around. So I had to use all my best sniper skills (firm stance, controlled breathing, light touch on the shutter) to get non-blurry photos, but happily I was mostly successful. Here they are:
Right door
Left door
The Crucifixion
An exorcism
We had arrived at the church at 4:00 and I just barely finished by the time they closed and kicked us out at 5:00. By that time it was dark, but we did get to briefly tour the cloister under a full moon, which was pretty cool.
Back outside, some local kids were having a good time playing on the 800-year-old lions!
Separate belltower and side of the church
I had brought my tripod along for this outing, so was able to take some night photos on the way back to the hotel. Verona was quite lovely after dark (and in the daytime too).
Castelvecchio ("Old Castle") Bridge, from the 1300s
Castelvecchio
Verona's Roman Arena, dating from 30 AD and very well preserved. They hold operas and other performances here regularly - that must be spectacular.
The Arena is on a really nice open piazza with trees and outdoor tables.
Our hotel (Hotel Accademia) has a wonderful location only a couple blocks from the Arena in a really nice shopping district. The streets were extremely brightly lit and paved with the city's characteristic pink marble, which became very slippery when it rained! The hotel itself was nice but old, and I never got around to taking photos of it.
But the very best part of our hotel was its dinner recommendation! When we asked her opinion, the very friendly woman at the front desk recommended Ristorante Greppia, just a few blocks away. She described it as casual and simple and promised, "You will tell me tomorrow it is wonderful!"
Ristorante Greppia
And whoa, was she ever right. It was probably the best food we had in Italy - only the family restaurant in Florence with the boar sauce comes close. We ate there two nights in a row and, honestly, it hurts me a little to look at the photos and know we can't have it anymore!
The first night, we both had rigatoni al ragu. Simple but extremely delicious. The pasta was freshly made in-house, cooked just right, and the meat and sauce were perfect.
For dessert, we both got panna cotta with berry sauce. I love panna cotta ("baked cream" for anyone not familiar with it) but couldn't remember ever having it in Italy, its homeland, so was determined to do so before we left the country. I'm so glad I had it here! It was easily the best I've ever had. Divine. I can't even tell you.
In addition to all the deliciousness, the meal was fun because we sat in between two tables of other North Americans and chatted with them quite a bit. On one side was a guy of maybe 35-40 from Toronto, who was in Italy for about a week on business. He had just flown in that day and was treating himself to a jet-lag recovery Italian meal. He started with some red wine called Amarone, which the waiter poured in an entertainingly elaborate way (a little into a big beaker, swirled around, left to rest, repeat) and then served in a huge wine glass. The guy loved the wine, but really cracked up at all the apparatus and had me take a photo of him and his glass with his cell phone. He encouraged us to try it, so I poured a small amount from the big, strange beaker into my own normal-sized glass. I don't love red wine and I'm no expert, but it was strong and dry and seemed very good.
And on our right was a couple of about 45 from Washington, DC. They had already had lunch at the same restaurant that day. We paid close attention to what they ordered and what they thought of it, because we were already planning to return for dinner the following night!
The next day we visited the cathedral, which was similar architecturally to San Zeno but not quite as exciting inside; the church of Sant'Anastasia, which wasn't terribly interesting; the ancient Roman theater; and "Juliet's House," complete with balcony. And I did some night shots of an old bridge and the river. Here are a few quick highlights.
Verona Cathedral:
Cathedral Cloister and Museum:
(Virtues overcoming vices)
Sant'Anastasia:
(I think the best word to describe the interior of this church is "frilly")
Hunchback holding up the holy water stoup - apparently hunchbacks were considered lucky to touch in the Middle Ages
Roman Theater (1st century AD) and Museum:
View of Sant'Anastasia through the ancient Roman colonnade above the theater
Part of the Roman museum was housed in this old monastery high on the hill
I was pretty excited to find an ancient statue of Artemis of Ephesus, who was one of the main subjects of my Oxford dissertation
Detail of a beautiful statue of the Emperor Claudius
Night photos:
Sant'Anastasia
Ponte Pietra, an ancient Roman bridge. The white tower on the left belongs to the cathedral.
On Ponte Pietra
Piazza Erbe
Sarah's first sampling of roasted chestnuts on the way back
After quittin' time, we returned to Ristorante Greppia for a second dinner! We were a little out of control this time, frankly. We each got two courses, which is very normal for Italy, but the general idea is to have a primo piatto, which is usually pasta, followed by a secundo piatto, which is usually a moderate portion of meat by itself. Well, those of you who know me may guess what's coming: I went ahead and ordered pasta for the first and second courses. Highly irregular, yes, but I just had to do it!
First I had this delicious dish: green ravioli with spinach and ricotta and a creamy tomato sauce. YUM. Again, everything was so fresh and perfectly cooked and flavored. Then I got the rigatoni al ragu again for the second course (refer to photo above). It does have meat in it, after all.
Sarah also mixed it up a bit, but on a meat theme: she ordered the green ravioli as well, but asked if they could add ragu to the sauce. (The waiter was very kind and humored both of our unusual orders.)
And for her second, Sarah got the lamb, which we had seen our D.C. neighbors very happy with the night before. And it was amazing. Saint that she is, she let me try it, and the meat was incredibly tender and spiced to perfection. I really can't recall having anything like it. Again I say YUM.
And then we both may have accidentally gotten panna cotta again, this time with homemade caramel sauce. Whoa.
As you might imagine, we were seriously stuffed afterwards, but it was so worth it. We had eaten well throughout Italy, but it was nice to go out on this exceptionally high note. The next morning we said Ciao to Italy and crossed the Alps into Salzburg.
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