Fifty minutes north on the Frecciarossa and the landscape has changed entirely. The flat Emilian plain gives way to the first low hills of the Veneto, the vineyards of the Valpolicella zone begin to appear on the western slopes, and Verona Porta Nuova station slides into view. By 09:30 on the Sunday morning after the Bologna Marathon, you can be standing in the Piazza Brà looking at a Roman amphitheatre that seats 22,000 people and has been doing so, more or less continuously, since the first century AD.
Trains run frequently throughout the day from Bologna Centrale. Standard second-class fares are €10 to €20 booked in advance on Trenitalia. The regional EuroCity services take around 65 to 70 minutes and cost less; both are comfortable.
The City on Post-Marathon Legs
Verona has a quality that is genuinely useful the day after a marathon: it is compact and largely flat. The historic centre is enclosed within a sweeping loop of the Adige River, and the distance from Verona Porta Nuova station to the far edge of the old town is less than a kilometre of level walking. Everything of significance - the Arena, the Piazza delle Erbe, the Arche Scaligere, Juliet's House - lies within a walkable triangle that takes perhaps twenty minutes to cross at its widest point.
The Arena di Verona occupies the south end of the Piazza Brà. It is the third-largest Roman amphitheatre in existence (after the Colosseum and Capua), and its outer ring, partially collapsed in a 12th-century earthquake, gives it a ragged, honest edge that the Colosseum, now ringed by tourism infrastructure, has lost. The wide marble promenade of the Liston running along the Piazza's southern edge is exactly the right surface for slowly working out tight calves: smooth, level, long enough to feel purposeful. Entry to the Arena interior costs around €10; the steeply raked interior seating is worth seeing once, though the steps will test your knees.
North of the Arena, the pedestrianised streets lead to the Piazza delle Erbe, the old herb market that has been the city's central square for two thousand years (it was the Roman forum). The frescoed palaces that line it on three sides - the Casa dei Mercanti, the Palazzo Maffei, the Torre del Gardello - form a backdrop that feels almost unfairly picturesque.
From Piazza delle Erbe, a one-minute walk north brings you to the Piazza dei Signori, the more severe civic square with Dante's statue at its centre. A short detour east leads to the Arche Scaligere - the Gothic outdoor tombs of the della Scala family, Verona's medieval rulers, whose equestrian funerary monuments project over the street like a particularly confident assertion of posthumous significance. Remarkable and entirely free to view from the street.
Juliet's House (Casa di Giulietta) is a short walk north. The courtyard is perpetually busy with visitors pressing their hands to the bronze statue of Juliet (the right breast has been polished to a high shine by several decades of wishful thinking). The courtyard is free; the museum costs €6 and contains period furniture. Shakespeare did not set his play here - Verona was chosen as a setting he had never visited and the Capulet family is fictional - but the Veronese have leaned into this entirely and with tremendous good humour.
March Specifics
Verona in early March sits at 6 to 12°C. The city is in the Adige valley, sheltered from the worst of the Alpine cold, but it can be breezy and overcast. Bring a layer.
March is solidly pre-season for the Opera Festival at the Arena (June to September), so there are no performances - but also no opera crowds. The city in early spring has a local quality that the summer does not: restaurants serve local people at lunch, the wine bars (osterie) are operating on normal hours, and the streets around the Piazza delle Erbe are genuinely quiet by 10:00.
Almost all shops in Verona's historic centre are closed on Sunday mornings, opening in the afternoon if at all.
Where to Eat
Osteria Il Bugiardo, on the Corso Porta Borsari near the Roman city gate, is the correct place for lunch. It functions as a wine bar and osteria in the traditional sense - a place where Valpolicella producers and local professionals eat at midday. Order Pastissada de Caval: horse meat slow-braised in Valpolicella red wine with cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaf, then served over polenta. This is the oldest traditional dish of Verona, with origins attributed to Attila the Hun's invasion in 452 AD. Finish with a slice of Nadalin - a star-shaped sweet bread flavoured with candied citrus and anise, predating pandoro by at least two centuries - and a glass of Recioto della Valpolicella, the sweet red dessert wine made from dried grapes grown in the hills just west of the city.
For something lighter: crostini at the bar counter with a glass of Soave Classico is as good a ten-minute lunch as you will find in northern Italy.
Practical Notes
- Station to centre: 15-minute flat walk from Verona Porta Nuova to Piazza Brà. Local buses 11, 12, and 13 run to the centre in five minutes.
- Return trains: Frequent services to Bologna throughout the afternoon and evening.
- What to skip on post-marathon legs: The Ponte Scaligero involves steps. The Castelvecchio museum requires significant walking. The Teatro Romano requires a bridge crossing and a hill.