Italian road trip

Summer has finally arrived in Europe and with it the summer holidays! We started off our holiday with a great road trip south into northern Italy.

A map of our travels

The first stop on our trip was in Cortina, a beautiful village in the Dolomites where we had some amazing experiences.

A view over Cortina

The town square in Cortina

On our way further south, we stopped off in the historical city of Verona. Here we saw the Verona Arena, a Roman amphitheatre built in the 1st century CE. It is one of the best preserved ancient theatres and is still in use today for large-scale operatic performances. It could host 30,000 spectators in ancient times, but today holds half that number due to safety reasons.

The Piazza Bra in central Verona

Verona Arena built in 30 CE

We also visited the Casa di Giulietta, an early 14th century house in Via Capello, claiming to be the Capulets' house. It features a balcony which overlooks a statue of Juliet in the small courtyard. Many people write their names and the names of their loved ones on the walls of the entrance in a tradition which purports to make their love everlasting. Thousands of tourists each year also put small love letters on the walls, which are actually answered as in the movie Letters to Juliet.

Juliet's balcony

The statue of Juliet. It is believed that
if a person touches her right breast
s/he will receive good fortune and luck in love.

Our next stop on the journey was to Pisa, a city in Tuscany in central Italy, where we headed straight to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Torre Pendente is actually the bell tower of the city's cathedral and is the third oldest structure in the Cathedral Square, after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed pulling some cheesy tourist poses with the tower.

Torre pendente di Pisa

The Baptistry, Cathedral and Bell Tower

The classic leaning-against-the-tower pose

The even more classic holding-up-the-tower pose!

Our final destination on our Italian road trip was in Santa Margherita, where we enjoyed a lovely seaside holiday.

The Santa Margherita port