Once upon a time there lived a girl named Juliet who fell in love with a boy named Romeo. There isn’t any evidence that either one of them actually existed. But there is a house in Verona that does date back to the 14th century and was purchased by the city of Verona from the Cappello family in 1905. Cappello was close enough to Capulet. So a balcony was cobbled together from pieces of a 17th century sarcophagus and Casa di Giulietta (Juliet’s House) was born.
Over the years tourists have had a habit of sticking love notes to the walls of the courtyard where you can see the balcony and a statue of the non-existent Juliet. The city of Verona has had enough of all of these notes and the gum, glue, tape, etc. used to stick them on the walls and now will fine anyone they catch leaving such a note €500. The house has been furnished in the style of the 14th century and contains some costumes from the most recent film version, so it could be fun to visit anyway — just keep those love notes to yourself. When I visited in 1998, I don’t remember going inside as an option. It was simply a matter of standing in a very crowded, very small courtyard while trying to get a decent photo of the balcony. To my mind, it was a house of the right era in Verona, and that was good enough for me.
Having most of a day in Verona was great. In addition to the balcony, there were several Roman ruins and fairly intact Roman buildings. The Roman Arena, which once held 30,000 spectators in its heyday, can still hold 22,000 and continues to be used for concerts. There is also a Roman Theatre by the river that is still used for things like opera performances. The theatre had been built over at one point, but a wealth Veronese bought all of the houses and had them torn down in the 18th century.
Back in the day, each of the main cities of what is now Italy were ruled as “city states” by powerful families, such as the Medici family of Florence, the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan and the Scala family of Verona. I found it very intriguing that one of the important rulers of Verona was named Cangrande I della Scala. “Cangrande” essentially means “Top Dog” (literally “Big Dog”). He was born in 1291 and was a patron of Dante. When he died in 1329, he was placed in a tomb in the courtyard of a church in Verona. Over the years, he was joined in that same courtyard by several members of his family. Some of the tombs are quite elaborate.
We also had a good, long visit in Venice on this trip — multiple days. One of the highlights was an evening visit to St Mark’s Square to see the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica San Marco all lit up. Behind San Marco, on the other side of a canal, was a music club called Ai Musicanti. It was an opera club. We heard three talented opera singers plus a violinist and a pianist performing all of the Italian opera greatest hits while munching on appetizers and sipping champagne.
We had a completely free afternoon one of the days. So Mom and I decided to explore San Marco from top to bottom. Up to that point, San Marco was pretty much the oldest building I had ever been in where we had the freedom and time to explore most of it. The original building was completed in 832, in the form of a Greek cross. But, in 976, the Doge at that time was locked inside of San Marco by a rebellious mob and the basilica burned down with him in it. They must have really hated that guy. San Marco was rebuilt in 978, but the present Byzantine-style building (complete with five domes) dates from roughly 1063. Some parts of the building, especially down in the undercroft, were part of the older versions.
Mom and I decided to start at the top and work our way down. After entering the center door, but before leaving the Narthex to enter the main part of the Basilica, is a very old, steep staircase leading up to the museum at the top of the building. This is where the originals of the horses on the exterior of the building are kept. There is also a gallery from which we could see the entire Basilica from on high. We were a little closer to the glistening, golden mosaics up there. Then we stepped out onto the part of the roof next to the replicas of the horses and looked out over Saint Mark’s Square. We would go up the Campanile (Bell Tower) later and get some spectacular views of the entire Venice area. That tower at least had a lift (elevator).
There seemed to be loads of places throughout San Marco where we could pass through a door, climb some stairs, venture down a corridor, and see a uniquely different part of the building. We ended up in some rafters at one point, where we could see the structure of the building [see photo below]. We also wandered around in the undercroft for a while. We were both just fascinated by the place.
Back in 1094, the Doge at that time found the remains of Saint Mark encased in a pillar in the aisle on the right side of the Basilica (when facing the high altar). You would have thought he would have been in a special tomb instead, being that he is the Mark of “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John”. His remains were taken from the pillar and reinterred in the high altar. In the Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney (in Scotland) the relics of Saint Magnus were found in a column in 1919. Maybe that’s what they did with the remains of a saint that they wanted to protect back about a thousand years ago. Nobody would know where to find Saint Whoziss and therefore couldn’t steal the remains. In Mark’s case, I believe the Venetians stole him in the first place.
There is a rumor that the body that was stolen from Alexandria, Egypt, by the Venetians wasn’t Mark at all, but Alexander the Great. This is partially because Alexander’s body seems to have gone missing and partially because there are claims that Mark’s body was cremated after death. First of all, the cremation story is not even remotely the accepted story. Also, from what I have read about Alexander, I would think that he would not take it lying down to be called by another name. He had a humongous ego.
After Venice, we headed for Ravenna on our way to Assisi. We had thought that San Marco was old, having originated in the 800s. The Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna was begun in 526. In 554, Ravenna became the seat of the Byzantine government in Italy, so the basilica there became quite important. It is also highly decorated with mosaics. Some panels of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his Empress Theodora are especially treasured. They date to 547. But the oldest mosaics in all of Italy are in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, who was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius. She died in 450. So the mausoleum took the prize for the oldest building I had been in up to that point. I would end up in much older structures on later adventures.
The next stop was Assisi. This was the end of March in 1998. In November and December of 1997, there had been some major earthquakes in Assisi. Four people had been killed in the upper part of the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi (13th century), which was still closed for repairs. We could visit the lower part which contains St Francis’ tomb. There was quite a bit of damage there too, but not so much that it had to be closed.
We also visited the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels. This is a very large cathedral that contains the site of St Francis’ hut, the cell in which he died, and the rose garden. Sort of like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which was built over the sites of the Christ’s death and tomb, this one was built over and around several of the places featured in St Francis’ life.
At the very top of the cathedral was a statue of Saint Mary, which had fallen off during the earthquake. Miraculously, it wasn’t damaged and had been set up near the front entrance of the cathedral [photo below]. It was nice, really, to see her close up instead of several stories away.
In our hotel in Assisi, we had a compact little bathroom where you could sit on the toilet, brush your teeth and take a shower all at the same time. Handy. But it could be disconcerting if you were really tired and pulled the wrong chain after using the loo while fully dressed.
From Assisi we went to Pompeii and Capri, plus experienced a snowstorm on the way back to Rome! More about all that in the next post.
