Verona Arena
Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra, open for daytime visits and host of a summer opera festival.
The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre built in the first century AD, just outside the walls of the Roman colony of Verona. Constructed largely of local limestone from the Valpolicella quarries, it originally seated around 30,000 spectators for gladiatorial games and public shows. An earthquake in 1117 destroyed most of the outer ring, leaving only a fragment known as the ala, or wing, standing today. The elliptical cavea of stone tiers survives almost intact and remains in continuous use.
Since 1913, when a performance of Verdi's Aida marked the centenary of the composer's birth, the amphitheatre has hosted an annual summer opera festival run by the Fondazione Arena di Verona. Performances take place without amplification, relying on the natural acoustics of the stone bowl, and audiences traditionally light small candles before curtain-up. Outside the festival the monument opens for daytime sightseeing, and it forms part of the Verona city centre UNESCO World Heritage inscription made in 2000.
Highlights
- Surviving ala, the last fragment of the original outer limestone ring
- Elliptical cavea of 44 stone tiers seating some 13,000 today
- Annual opera festival staged here without electronic amplification
- Part of the City of Verona UNESCO World Heritage Site
