Verona and Bologna

June 8, 2025 5:18 pm Paula

Verona

As soon as we got off the train in Verona, we knew we were going to love it here. Quieter vibe and much smaller city. However, I spotted a Louis Vuitton store and a Maserati minutes after stepping into the old town. Small but wealthy lol!

Two of Shakespeare’s plays are set in Verona: Romeo and Juliet & The Two Gentlemen of Verona. It is unknown (and unlikely) that Shakespeare ever visited Verona or Italy, but that doesn’t stop the visitors from coming!

Juliet’s House, Balcony and Statue. We didn’t go into the house where Juliet and her family lived; the courtyard with the statue and balcony were busy enough.

Here’s my cropped versions of statue and the lovely balcony where Romeo serenaded Juliet; empty for my perfectly timed, one second shot. It is good luck to rub statues and many have the nice shiny bronze showing through on certain body parts, like Juliet’s breasts here.

And here’s the reality of the visit. The house tour included a step out onto the balcony and it was nonestop Juliet’s appearing every 30 seconds. Unless you are a diva, like this woman whom overstayed her appearance. Maybe she was looking for her Romeo? Many signed the walls!

The Arena di Verona is one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Italy; and the building is 2,000 years old! The site hosts opera festivals, concerts and events.

Wine tasting. We did a nice wine tasting in town, and tried several wines from Verona and Veneto, including a Prosecco and 2 reds from the Valpolicella area. We also ventured down to the wine cellar, where the subtle sales tactics always occur.

After finishing our dinner one evening, we started chatting with the two gentlemen beside us, that were getting royal treatment from the restaurant manager, wait staff and a few nearby guests. Turns out they owned not just the restaurant beside us, but the entire palace behind us. They were down to earth with us, loved that we are Canadian (they were German) and gave us travel tips too. Here’s our dinner and their little place lol.

A short bus trip took us to Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy. Garda is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Milan and Verona. We just went to the main town but there are many villages and ports to visit along the shores. Very pretty.

Verona is scheduled to host the closing ceremonies of the 2026 Winter Olympics being held in Milan. Verona, she’s a charmer!

Bologna

The move from Verona to Bologna took two short trains with a mere 11 minutes to change in Padova, in between. That 11 minutes made me uncomfortable but when the train from Verona to Padova was 5 minutes late, I was stressed. I imagined Padova to be a small town and our train would arrive and the second train would arrive moments later. That was partially true, however; the Padova station was big, and we exited the train then had to haul the luggage down two floors, through the tunnel from gate 5 to 1, and back up the two flights. Our train was arriving at that moment and we hurried past it in the opposite direction, watching for car numbers at the same time. We found our car, hoisted the luggage up, Joe piled the two bigger pieces on the caddy while I found our seats and tossed the carryons into the over head. As we both sat down, the train started moving; we made it by seconds! We have a Eurail pass and both these trains also required reservations ($$) so not sure what would have happened if we missed it!

(I had no photos so I generated these beefed up likenesses of us that we laughed and laughed about them because we’ve been eating a lot of food and wish we looked like that lololo)

We were rewarded with goodies as we departed, including the Italian favourite – the ham sandwich; coveted by all on a daily basis as a mid day snack. Literally. This one was not great, but we’ve had delicious one’s, warm with melted cheese, like these Bolognese versions.

The famous window in “little Venice” looks out on one of the hidden canals of Bologna. For most of its route, the channel is locked between the houses, hidden from view.

Ragù alla bolognese, is a particular style of ragù that originated in Bologna. It is a specific recipe, typically including ground beef and pork, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, broth, and wine, and sometimes milk or cream It is served with flat pasta like tagliatelle, but not spaghetti. It was so delicious we enjoyed it a few times. (Last photo, lower bottom right). Tortellini is also from Bologna and we had some amazing small plates. More food photos too!

 

The Two Towers, are both leaning and are symbols of Bologna. The taller one, Asinelli, was built around 1112 and is 97m tall, with 498 steps inside. In 2023, the tower was in danger of collapsing so the city began constructing a barrier to contain debris should it fall.  This prevention project is expected to take at least 10 years and cost €20 million.

The smaller tower Garisend, has a greater lean, and is 47m. In the 14th century it was 60m but had to be lowered due to a yielding of the ground which left it slanting and dangerous.

Their construction may have been a competition between the two families to show which was the more powerful family; with costly, long term results.

We made a dinner reservation at a hotel recommended restaurant with good reviews, except for the repeated mention of the ‘need for the old owner to retire as he is rude’. Once seated, that very man of about 90, approached our table with his notepad in hand. I politely requested, a Gin Tonic. The owner promptly closed his notebook and left, but sputtered something to a server. She came to our table and said he was going to think about my drink request! Joe then made his request and she left to ask about his drink! She returned and said my gin was ok but that we needed to order our meals and wine before I could have it! We did of course as we were guests there, but mind blown at the same time! My gin arrived with Joe’s request for whiskey, finally approved; but served with water, much to his chagrin.

We saw other encounters with him and guests, but could only surmise who was winning the discussions. Dinner was delicious and when at the counter to pay, we told the man’s son (knew it!) that we were from Canada. ‘Canada!?!’ he exclaimed excitedly and started babbling happily in Italian then retrieved a bottle of wine that seemed to have something to do with Canada, and gave it to us. Joe told the older man dinner was ‘molto buono’ and he responded with an ‘of course’ motion and everyone has happy. We joked about that night for days!

We really enjoyed Bologna, it was warm and welcoming with so much cultural, historical and artistic heritage. The famous porticoes and medieval squares were everywhere, and of course the delicious Bolognese cuisine was a hit with us!

We are currently exploring the beach resort city of Rimini; watch for it in the next blog!

*Itinerary update!* Our son Jordan has a conference in Venice at the end of June so he, Amy and our grandson Cody are meeting us before hand in Rome for a few days. Super excited about that! As luck would have it, Jordan and Amy were invited to a work retreat in Lisbon, the first week of July. We were called upon for grandparent duty to watch little Cody when needed, so his parents can celebrate this reward for hardwork. Therefore, we are heading back to Malaga, Spain for 10 days then will fly home from Lisbon on July 11!

Thanks for following along!

Paula and Joe

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