Verona Tourist Traps

Stay away from restaurants anywhere near Romeo and Juliet's balcony.I was served the worst glass of wine I have ever had in a café in one of the back streets behind the square where Juliet’s balcony is. It was supposed to be Soave but tasted of nothing but preservatives (home brewers would recognise the smell of campden tablets). It was so awful I had two sips (to be sure –could it really be that bad!) and left it. The food was pretty dull, too.

The tomb of Juliet. If you are a true fan you might want to visit, but for the most part this was not worth paying for. For starters it is not clear if it is actually her tomb or not. If you are a big Romeo and Juliet fan, stopping by might be worth your time, but if not I would suggest seeing other things around the city instead.

The Home of the Capulets. Now we all realize that Juliet was fictional right? Yes, the balcony is nice, but this was certainly not my mental picture of the place Romeo pitched some woo at the young Capulet beauty. In fact, none of the scenes would make any sense here. Go there. See it. Don't pay the admission fee to go inside the house!

Juliet's Balcony-I am not a Shakespeare fan and the only redeeming quality of this place is how attractive the courtyard is and the building. But who in the heck would pay money to stand on the balcony? Not me!

Skip the ridiculous Romeo and Juliet house, with the balcony from which Juliet supposedly spoke the words, 'Romeo, oh Romeo ...' Let's face it, Shakespeare never crossed the Italian border. It was fantasy. Let's not encourage these people.

'Juliette's Balcony' - Yeah, OK, so this really is a 'must see', but so many people come here it's hard to even get in the courtyard. And then each one wants his/her picture taken with Juliette (OK, OK, I did it too). And when the house is open, everyone wants to go on the balcony to have their picture taken... It can be hectic. But really - don't miss it :-)

The Roman Ampitheatre.... this was my reason for visiting, and while quite impressive, it seemed to be quite substantially restored, and during the summer opera season most of it seemed to be shut off to the public, as the workers construct the stage area - watching teams of halk-naked workmen sweating in the hot sun had it's compensations though! ;-)

Citizens desire to keep the story of Romeo and Juliet as part of their city has led to the creation of a home for Juliet and they have placed the home at n.27 Via Cappello. But that is not the Juliet home: the coat of arms carved on the keystone of the courtyard arch indicates that the Dal Cappello family were the original owners. In the last century it was used as a hostelry for visitors. The small marble balcony located in the courtyard recalls the famous scene where Romeo climbs up to the balcony as Shakespeare writes 'with love’s eight wings did I o’verperch these walls,' to be with Juliet.