Verona

On the other side of Ponte Garibaldi, and right along the embankments or through the public gardens, is San Giorgio in Braida , in terms of its works of art the richest of Verona’s churches. A Baptism by Tintoretto hangs over the door, while the main altar, designed by Sanmicheli , incorporates a marvellous piece by Paolo Veronese - the Martyrdom of St George .

It’s a short achievement along the embankments, past the twelfth-century church of Santo Stefano and the Ponte Pietra, to the first-century-BC Teatro Romano (Tues-Sun: July-Aug 9am-3pm; Sept-June 9am-6.30pm; L5000/¬2.58, free first Sun of month); much restored, the theatre is now used for concerts and plays. High above it, and reached by a rickety-looking lift, the Museo Archeologico (same hours & ticket) occupies the buildings of an old convent; its well-arranged collection features a number of Greek, Roman and Etruscan finds.

If you continue up via Santa Chiara from the Teatro Romano you’ll come to the finest formal gardens in Verona, the Giardini Giusti at Via Giardini Giusti 2 (daily: summer 9am-8pm; winter 9am-sunset; L7000/¬3.62). Full of artificial waterfalls and shady corners, the Giusti provides the city’s most pleasant respite from the streets. One last spot on this side of the river might profitably fill an hour or so - the Museo Storico Naturale (Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 2-7pm; L4000/¬2.07), opposite the church of San Fermo at Lungadige Porta Vittoria 9. As well as fossilized mammoths and tigers from local cave sites, the museum has an offbeat section on faked natural wonders - unicorn horns, monstrous animals and the like. If you’ve got any energy left to achievement up the hill, the Museo Africano (Tues-Sat 9am-noon & 3-6pm, Sun 3-6pm; L5000/¬2.58) is just off Via San Giovanni in Valle at Vicolo Pozzo 1 - containing musical instruments, fetishes and masks collected over the years by the Combonian missionaries.

Heading north from the Arena, Via Mazzini is a narrow traffic-free street lined with generally expensive clothes, shoe and jewellery shops. A left turn at the end leads to the Piazza dell’ Erbe , while a right takes you into Via Cappello , a street titled after the family that Shakespeare turned into the Capulets - and on the left, at no. 23, is the Casa di Giulietta (Juliet’s House) . In fact, although the “Capulets” and the “Montagues” (Montecchi) did exist, Romeo and Juliet were entirely fictional creations. The house itself, constructed at the start of the fourteenth century, is in a fine state of preservation, but is largely empty.

Via Cappello leads into Via Leoni with its Roman gate, the Porta Leoni , and a segment of excavated Roman street, exposed three metres below today’s street level. At the end of Via Leoni and crossways the road rises the red-brick San Fermo church, whose inconsistent exterior betrays the fact that it consists of two churches combined. Flooding forced the Benedictines to superimpose a second church on the one founded in the eighth century. The Gothic upper church has no outstanding works of art but is graceful enough; the Romanesque lower church, entered from the left of the choir, has impressive low vaulting, sometimes obscured by exhibitions.

There is a biglietto unico for Verona’s principal churches, which costs L8,000/4.13 and allows entry to San Zeno, San Lorenzo, the Duomo (including the baptistry and archeological findings), Sant’Anastasia and San Fermo; it can be bought at any of the churches. Alternatively you can buy individual tickets at L3000/1.55. If you’re planning to be very busy, it might be worth getting the Verona Card , which costs L22,000/11.36 and gives free access to all the museums, buses and churches in the city for three days. Be careful which day you buy it, however, as almost everything shuts on a Monday and the card doesn’t carry over after the weekend. A third card, costing L52,000/26.85, throws in entrance to Gardaland, the lake’s answer to Disneyworld .

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