Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Verona
San Zeno, Castelvecchio and the hill in six hours
The Romanesque basilica, the Scaliger castle and its bridge, the cathedral's Titian, the Roman theatre and the city from the hill above it.
This route crosses Verona from west to east, starting where most visitors never get to. The basilica of San Zeno is twenty minutes' walk upriver from the Arena; from there the river leads to the Scaligers' castle and its fortified bridge, the cathedral at the top of the river's loop, and across to the Roman theatre on the far bank. A funicular saves the climb to Castel San Pietro, and the day ends in a Renaissance garden.
The route, stop by stop
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Basilica di San Zeno
The Romanesque basilica of the city's patron saint, its doors covered with bronze panels of the 11th and 12th centuries. Mantegna's altarpiece of 1457–59 is on the high altar; the saint lies in the crypt.
45 min here Walk here → -
Castelvecchio
The castle Cangrande II della Scala built in the 1350s, now the city museum, remodelled after the war by the architect Carlo Scarpa. Cangrande's equestrian statue stands outdoors on a concrete plinth Scarpa designed for it.
60 min here Walk here → -
Ponte Scaligero
The castle's fortified brick bridge, built with it as an escape route across the river. Blown up in 1945, it was rebuilt with bricks recovered from the Adige.
10 min here Walk here → -
Duomo di Verona
A Romanesque porch carved with Charlemagne's paladins Roland and Oliver, and Titian's Assumption of the Virgin in the first chapel on the left. The four historic churches share one ticket.
30 min here Walk here → -
Teatro Romano
A Roman theatre of the 1st century BC built into the hill across the river, used every summer for the Estate Teatrale Veronese festival. The archaeological museum is in the former convent above it.
45 min here Walk here → -
Castel San Pietro
The terrace in front of the Austrian barracks on the hilltop, with the whole old town and its bridges below. A funicular opened in 2017 from beside the Roman theatre; the steps take about ten minutes.
30 min here Walk here → -
Giardino Giusti
A Renaissance garden laid out by Agostino Giusti in the 1570s, with box parterres, a cypress avenue and a belvedere over the city. Goethe walked here in 1786 and wrote about the cypresses.
45 min here Walk here →
More walks in Verona
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