In the city of Verona, in northern Italy

 "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."
-- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
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(on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy) The city of Verona, in northern Italy, lies at the foot of the Lessini Mountains, 65 miles (~105 km) west of Venice. One of the seven provincial capitals of the region, it is the largest city in Veneto and the second largest in northeastern Italy. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy because of its artistic heritage and several annual fairs and shows, as well as the opera season in the Arena, an ancient Roman amphitheater. The city became a Roman colony in 89 BCE and rapidly rose in importance because it was at the junction of main roads between Italy and northern Europe.
+ Verona was occupied by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric (in 489 CE), who built a castle on the site of the present Castel San Pietro on the Adige River. The city remained important under the Lombard kings. It was captured by Charlemagne in 774 and was the residence of his son Pippin and of Berengar of Tours.

+ In the reign of Bartolomeo della Scala, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet traditionally loved and died; their romance is commemorated by the so-called Tomb of Juliet, Romeo’s House, and Juliet’s House. Bartolomeo’s brother Cangrande I (who died in 1329), was the greatest member of the della Scala family. (He protected the exiled poet Dante.)

+ Verona fell to Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1387 and in 1405 to Venice, which held it until 1797, when it was ceded to Austria by Napoleon I at the Treaty of Campo Formio. The last congress of the Quadruple Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria, Britain) was held at Verona in 1822. In 1866 the city was united to the Kingdom of Italy. It suffered heavy damage in World War II but has since been restored.

+ Best known for its Shakespeare associations, Verona attracts a multinational gaggle of tourists to its pretty piazzas and knot of lanes, most in search of Romeo, Juliet and all that. Yet, beyond the heart-shaped kitsch and Renaissance romance, Verona is a bustling center, its heart dominated by a mammoth, remarkably well-preserved 1st-century amphitheater, the venue for the city's annual summer opera festival. Add to that numerouss churches, a couple of architecturally fascinating bridges over the Adige, regional wine and food from the Veneto hinterland, and some impressive art -- all of which makes Verona one of northern Italy's most attractive cities. (And all this just a short hop from the shores of stunning Lake Garda.

+ So splendid was medieval Verona that its reputation alone inspired Shakespeare to set two plays here (Romeo and Juliet and The Two Gentlemen of Verona). Although its connection to the real-life Capulets is tenuous at best, the so-called Juliet's House (shown here) attracts half a million tourists every year, many of them keen on reenacting the balcony scene. (Don't miss the Roman amphitheater and the Palazzo Barberi.)