INSIDE THE VERONA ARENA
February 2020
Built in the first Century, in the period which marked the end of the Augustus’s Empire and the beginning of Claudius’s, the Verona Arena is an open-air Roman amphitheater that's still fully in use today, making it one of the best preserved ancient structures in the world. That means that these stones have seen everything from gladiators games to One Direction concerts, from Medieval jousts to Puccini operas. Its colorful palimpsest of histories makes it a perfect representation of Verona itself.
The Arena is made from pink and white stone from nearby Valpolicella.
This building was used to host various types of performances: gladiator battles and fights with ferocious and exotic animals.
It is one of the largest amphitheatre in Italy; its elliptical shape produces perfect acoustics from any stand point and allows it to accommodate a large number of spectators
Only the "Ala", a short section of the outer ring that was the façade of the Arena, has been preserved. Under the reign of Theodoric (493-526 AD), the outer ring was partially demolished for the construction of a second set of defensive walls, and until the Renaissance the Arena was used as a stone quarry.
Piazza Bra' - Verona Italy
