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BaitoneAlpino Suggests: Arena of Verona

The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre located in the historic centre of Verona, an icon of the Venetian city along with the figures of Romeo and Juliet. Throughout its long history, the Verona Arena was used as a venue for gladiatorial combat and wild and exotic animal hunts, and also, most likely, for the martyrdom of Christians. With the arrival of Christianity, the Arena lost its original function and became a stone quarry for a time. Stones were taken from its outer ring to build Verona's second city wall in 500 AD, during the reign of Theodoric; today, only the section known as the "Ala" remains visible. The Arena is the third largest surviving amphitheatre, and certainly the best preserved, despite a powerful earthquake in 1183 destroying the triple row of overlapping arches that entirely surrounded it. Inside, the Arena is divided into the central section, which hosted performances, and the tiered auditorium for the audience, once divided into horizontal sections by walkways and topped by a roofed portico. The internal order is composed of 72 double stone arches forming an ellipse 110 meters wide and 140 meters long. After hosting theatrical performances, ballets, and even hot air balloon ascents and landings, the Arena found its definitive vocation in 1913 with the performance of Verdi's Aida. Since then, it has become the venue for the summer opera season: today, it welcomes over 600,000 spectators each year, making it the largest open-air opera season in the world. The amphitheatre’s splendid acoustics, the grandeur of the sets, and the mystical gulf hosting 150 musicians make each performance an unforgettable spectacle. On February 22, 2026, it also hosted the closing ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.