Verona
— — the river bends and the old city follows.
Not only on a wall.
“The Adige loops a tight S through the centre of Verona and the city follows the river's line. Inside the bend, a Roman amphitheatre from the first century still fills for opera through July and August. Outside the bend, the working neighbourhoods climb the hill toward Castel San Pietro. The pink limestone the city is built from holds the light long after sunset. from the studio
Verona, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Verona sits in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy, on a tight bend of the Adige river about 105 km west of Venice and 30 km east of Lake Garda. The historic centre, walled within the river's loop, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2000 for its 2,000-year continuity of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance architecture. The Arena di Verona, completed around 30 AD, is the third-largest surviving Roman amphitheatre and still seats about 15,000 for the summer opera festival. The city has roughly 257,000 residents.
Verona is built largely of Rosso Ammonitico, the pink limestone quarried from the Lessinian hills just north of the city. The stone takes a fine polish and gives the centre its signature blush, visible in the Arena's outer arcades, in the paving of Piazza delle Erbe, in Castelvecchio's twin towers, and in the Romanesque facade of San Zeno Maggiore. The same quarries supplied Roman builders, the medieval Scaligeri lords, and Renaissance architects. The colour deepens in afternoon sun and shifts to rose-grey under cloud.
Opera season at the Arena runs each summer from mid-June through early September and has done so, with interruptions for the world wars, since 1913. The first production was Verdi's Aida, staged for the composer's centenary. Each performance seats roughly 15,000 spectators on the Roman stone steps and in the modern stalls. Other anchor dates: Vinitaly each April, the world's largest wine trade fair; Tocatì in mid-September, the international festival of street games. Hotel rates spike around all three.