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If you loved Verona, try…

Reference: Verona and Valpolicella

Verona is the Arena city, and the Valpolicella farm stays are the hills behind it. The tries are the next cities with their own official pages, not a secret village. Mantua is the Gonzaga city on the water. Vicenza is Palladio's provincial capital. Both are quieter than an opera night on Piazza Bra. Neither is empty, and neither is a day trip you walk from the Arena. Soave and Bassano were not given their own pages. A town is not listed until its own site has been read.

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The Roman Arena on Piazza Bra in Verona
Arne MüselerPublic domain · source
Verona, Veneto45.439° N, 10.994° E

Verona and Valpolicella

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Food
Campagna Amica at the old slaughterhouse
Church
San Giovanni in Valle
Music
Teatro Ristori
Farm stand
Campagna Amica, Rione Filippini, Piazza Isolo organic market
Sauna
Terme di Giunone, Caldiero
Sports
Virtus Verona, Serie D
Lodging
Valpolicella

Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday

Best season The 103rd Arena Opera Festival, 12 June to 12 September 2026, is over. Fondazione Arena's site is now listing a 2027 festival. Teatro Ristori's own season page runs 27 October 2026 to 30 April 2027. Read the house you mean.

A Roman city in a bend of the Adige, with the Arena on Piazza Bra and the Valpolicella hills to the northwest. The amphitheater is the famous night. The quieter doors are across the river, and the farm stays are in the hills, not on the Bra.

Worth knowing

  • Across the river

    The city's Minor Hierusalem walk is the loop outside the Adige bend: San Giorgio in Braida, Santo Stefano, Santi Siro e Libera, San Giovanni in Valle, and Santa Maria in Organo. The tourism page says volunteers keep those doors Thursday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:30, and that a paid guide needs a minimum of 12 people. Two walks leave Ponte Pietra, 10:00 and 14:30, each about two and a half hours.

  • The Arena ticket

    Buy from Fondazione Arena. Their site names shop.arena.it, the call center +39 045 8005151, and the box offices at Via Dietro Anfiteatro 6/b and Via Roma 1. They tell you not to use resale sites. The 2026 festival dates are not a show you can still attend.

  • Which market

    Piazza delle Erbe is the postcard. For a producer stall the city also names Piazza Isolo, organic, Tuesday and Thursday, 8 to 14. The covered Campagna Amica market is the Saturday and Sunday stop in Rione Filippini.

The short version

UNESCO inscribed the City of Verona in 2000 under criteria (ii) and (iv). Its own text says the city was founded in the 1st century B.C., flourished under the Scaliger family in the 13th and 14th centuries and as part of the Republic of Venice from the 15th to the 18th centuries, and kept monuments from antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. The pin on this page is the Arena, not a vineyard.

Food nearby

Campagna Amica at the old slaughterhouse

The city tourism page says that since May 2021 Coldiretti has run a covered market in the former slaughterhouse in Rione Filippini, about 700 square meters, Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 13, where local farms sell and visitors can taste. Piazza delle Erbe is the old daily market, Monday to Saturday 7:30 to 20:30, and the same page says the stalls sell fruit and vegetables and, in winter, mandorlato and pandoro, along with souvenirs.

A game nearby

Virtus Verona, Serie D

The club's own pages put the 2026/27 Serie D side at Stadio Gavagnin-Nocini, Via Montorio 112, not at the Bentegodi. A club note of 21 August 2026 lists season tickets: tribuna A/B €145, reduced €100, under 16 €50, VIP €200. A single-match price was not on that page. Hellas Verona at the Bentegodi is the famous ticket.

Farms and stands nearby

  • Campagna Amica, Rione Filippini

    The city tourism page says local farms sell here and that you can taste. It names fruit, vegetables, cheese, and wine only for the wider set of km-0 markets, not a vendor list for this hall.

    Season. Saturday and Sunday, 8 to 13, in the former slaughterhouse. The page says the market has run since May 2021. It does not print a closing month.

    About 700 square meters, organized by Coldiretti, on the Adige in Rione Filippini. No cash-only rule was printed.

    Official page
  • Piazza Isolo organic market

    The same city page lists Piazza Isolo among the neighborhood markets and marks Tuesday and Thursday as the organic day.

    Season. Tuesday and Thursday, 8 to 14.

    Closer to the river loop than the Filippini hall. Piazza delle Erbe is the daily tourist market, not this one.

    Official page

Staying in Valpolicella – snapshot (lodging only)

Last checked: 2026-10-16. We recommend; you book directly. Prices are nightly, low–high by season, with a source. “From” prices depend on your dates. Items we couldn't verify are marked †.

The quiet base: Farm stays in the Valpolicella hills, not a room on Piazza Bra. The pin on the Verona page is the Arena.

Inns, B&Bs, farm stays, guesthouses, campgrounds

Vacation rentals

  • Casa del Custode
    Sleeps.
    6
    Price (low–high).
    From US$236/night, tourist tax included; crib $11.25/night; pool open May 15–Sep 30 (manager)
    Good for.
    Sleeps 6, owners live on the estate
    Book via.
    Vrbo found (no price without dates): https://www.vrbo.com/en-gb/p11262470
    Why we like it.
    Sleeps 6, owners live on the estate

Know before you book: Igino includes breakfast. El Crear lists a double from €110 and a single at €80. Le Croibe is €150 for a double, €160 in July and August, plus €25 for a third bed. Casa del Custode is from US$236 a night with the tourist tax included, a crib at $11.25 a night, and a pool open 15 May–30 September. Its Vrbo page loads and shows no price until dates are entered. None of these four prices was marked unverified on the check.

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Music

Teatro Ristori

The intimate house. Its own season page lists 27 October 2026 to 30 April 2027, with prose, jazz, and Ristori Baroque with I Virtuosi Italiani. After an opening concert at the Ristori, that baroque series continues at Spazio San Pietro in Monastero. The Arena is the exceptional summer amphitheater, run by Fondazione Arena, and the Teatro Filarmonico is their indoor hall. The 2026 Arena festival has ended. The foundation's site is listing 2027. This calendar link is the Ristori, not the Arena shop.

Official calendar

A church

San Giovanni in Valle

The city's tourism page calls it a Romanesque parish from the Lombard era, 7th to 8th century, with a 12th-century church, cloister, and collegiate beside what remains of the walls of Theodoric and Berengar. The crypt has two old sarcophagi. Santa Maria in Organo, nearer the river, is the other quiet door: a Lombard-era church, later Benedictine, with Fra Giovanni da Verona's choir inlays and an unfinished Sanmicheli facade. Free entry. No tourist visit during a service.

The comune page gives via San Giovanni in Valle 40 and says visits yield to services. The Minor Hierusalem page gives number 36 and prints Thursday to Saturday 10:00–17:30, Sunday 12:30–17:30. Read both before you climb the hill.

Schedule source

A sauna

Terme di Giunone, Caldiero

A thermal water park about ten kilometers east of Verona, not a public bath in the center. The operator describes historic thermal pools and a family water park with slides. Their hours page prints a 2026 high season from 31 May to 6 September, 9:30 to 19:30. That stretch is over. The town of Caldiero still shows an older summer clock. Check the operator before you go.

Via delle Terme 1, Caldiero. The wellness park at Villa dei Cedri in Colà di Lazise is a different door, and its own page limits the wellness center to people 18 and over.

House site

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Palazzo Te in Mantua, the Gonzaga suburban villa
MarcokCC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Mantua, Lombardy45.148° N, 10.786° E

Mantua

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Food
No kitchen checked
Church
Rotonda di San Lorenzo

Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour

Best season Palazzo Te's visit page: Monday 9:00–19:00, Tuesday 13:00–19:00, Wednesday to Sunday 9:00–19:00. The ticket office closes at 18:00. Closed 25 December. Open on other holidays.

A Gonzaga city on the water, southwest of Verona, without an opera amphitheater. Palazzo Te is the suburban villa at the south end. It is a real city, not a secret village.

Worth knowing

  • Start at the Te

    The sustainable-destination walk starts at Palazzo Te and ends at Palazzo Ducale, 2.1 km, about 30 minutes on foot. An advance ticket is not required. The visit page says it is strongly advised on weekends and holidays, and that a presale fee is then added.

  • Inside the rooms

    No food or drink in the rooms. No smoking anywhere on the property, gardens included. The ticket is one entry at each of the three sites it names.

The short version

Mantua's sustainable-destination page says Giulio Romano built Palazzo Te between 1525 and 1535 for Federico II Gonzaga, as a suburban villa on the island called Tejeto. The palace's own visit page says one ticket also admits you once to MACA and to the Tempio Leon Battista Alberti. The provincial tourism page calls Palazzo Ducale a city inside the city, first Bonacolsi and then Gonzaga, and calls the Rotonda di San Lorenzo the oldest church.

Food nearby

No kitchen checked

A national tourism page says the fish market under Giulio Romano's Pescherie ran until the 1940s. That arcade is not a shop to walk into for dinner.

A church

Rotonda di San Lorenzo

The provincial tourism page calls it the oldest church in Mantua, built in the 11th century on a round plan. Sant'Andrea is the large basilica. This is the smaller, older door.

No service time was printed on the page this desk read.

Schedule source

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The Basilica Palladiana on Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza
Didier DescouensCC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Vicenza, Veneto45.547° N, 11.546° E

Vicenza

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Food
Campagna Amica covered market
Farm stand
Campagna Amica covered market, Piazza delle Erbe producer markets

Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour

Best season The covered market's own page says it is open all year, Saturday 8:30–13:30 and Sunday 9:00–13:00. The basilica page does not print a visit clock.

Palladio's city, a provincial capital east of Verona. The civic building on Piazza dei Signori is the visit, not an arena season. It is quieter than an opera night in Verona. It is still a city.

Worth knowing

  • The two clocks

    The city says weekly markets run 7:30 to 13:00, and that Piazza delle Erbe on Tuesday is a Campagna Amica market run by Coldiretti Vicenza. Campagna Amica's own Erbe page says Tuesday 8:30 to 13:00. Use the operator's clock for that stall and the city's page for which square is on.

The short version

The comune says the Basilica Palladiana is the symbol of Vicenza: Andrea Palladio's loggia of serlianas wrapped around the medieval Palazzo della Ragione, and that UNESCO listed it in 1994. The same page says civic palaces stood on this ground from the second half of the 13th century, including the Palatium vetus and the Palatium Communis. The comune also says the building is accessible to people with disabilities.

Food nearby

Campagna Amica covered market

The market's own page, at Via Cordenons 4, says sixteen producers from the province sell vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese, pork, beef, chicken, freshwater fish, wine, and oil. It does not print their names. The outdoor squares are a different shopping list.

Farms and stands nearby

  • Campagna Amica covered market

    Vegetables and preserves, fruit, bread and pastry, cow and goat cheese, pork, beef, chicken, freshwater fish, maize flour, honey, wine, and oil. The page says sixteen producers from the province.

    Season. All year. Saturday 8:30–13:30 and Sunday 9:00–13:00. Enter from Contrà Cordenons, Stradella del Garofolino, or the passage off Corso Fogazzaro.

    This is the smaller indoor door, a short walk off Corso Palladio. No cash-only rule was printed.

    Official page
  • Piazza delle Erbe producer markets

    The city says Tuesday in Piazza delle Erbe is Campagna Amica, run by Coldiretti, and Thursday is a weekly market of agricultural producers. Campagna Amica's Erbe page lists vegetables, fruit, pork and cured meat, preserves, herbs, and honey.

    Season. The city prints market hours of 7:30 to 13:00. Campagna Amica prints Tuesday 8:30 to 13:00, all year. Those clocks do not match.

    Read both pages. The city's list is the one that says which square is on that morning.

    Official page

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