Arena di Verona

The Arena di Verona stands on Piazza Bra in the Veneto region of northern Italy and is among the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. It was built around 30 AD, in the early Roman Empire, outside the city walls of what was then the prosperous colony of Verona. The elliptical building held roughly 30,000 spectators and hosted gladiatorial combats and other public spectacles for the population of the city and the surrounding Po Valley. The structure is built of local pink and white limestone quarried in the Valpolicella hills, laid in regular courses with arcaded galleries on several levels. Only a short fragment of the outer ring, known as the ala, survives, with four arches rising over three storeys; the rest was brought down by the earthquake of 1117. The inner ring and the tiered cavea remained largely intact, which is why the building still works as a performance space. Through the Middle Ages the arcades were used for workshops and shelter, and in later centuries the Venetian authorities and the city repaired the seating and protected the monument. Visitors enter through the arcades and climb to the stepped seating, where the scale of the ellipse and the view across Piazza Bra and the rooftops can be appreciated. The cavea is arranged in tiers of stone steps that visitors can walk, while the arena floor, underground service passages and the vaulted corridors reveal how crowds and performers were moved. The amphitheatre is not curated as a museum with labelled objects; the monument itself is the exhibit, and interpretation is delivered through signage and the audio guide. Since 1913, when Verdi's Aida was staged to mark the centenary of the composer's birth, the Arena has hosted the summer opera festival, and ongoing conservation work is carried out around the performance calendar. Stage sets are often left in place in summer, which can partly obscure the floor, but the stone tiers remain open. The condition of the stone is monitored and sections of the steps and arches are periodically restored. The Arena is the central landmark of Verona's UNESCO-listed historic centre and a short walk from Via Mazzini and Piazza delle Erbe.