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North of the Arena , the old town streets lead inevitably to the Piazza delle Erbe. Once the site of a Roman Forum, the Piazza is still the city’s hub, a marketplace, gathering place and shopping mecca.
The snow and the cows north of here in the Dolomites started an important trend that thank goodness continues in Verona today--Gelato. While universally delicious, not all Italian Gelato is alike. Gelato in Northern Italy is milk and cream based ice-cream, while in Southern Italy the Gelato is water based and more like sorbet. A Verona delight is this mixture of Gelato, fresh fruit and cream. I think I’m in love.
Speaking of love, a short detour from the Piazza delle Erbe leads to the so-called House of Juliet, a fictitious shrine to the star-crossed heroine of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. While the Montague and Capulet families did exist, the rest is pure imagination. The shrine draws mainly tourists and lovelorn teens.
The Adige river encircles Verona’s old town, forming a kind of peninsula. As you approach the river the streets grow narrower and more mysterious. The Ponte Pietra at the tip of the old town peninsula is Verona’s oldest bridge with two of the arches dating from about 50 B.C.
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hub: the center part of a wheel, fan, or propeller; center
mecca:a place that is regarded as the center of an activity or interest; center
sorbet: an ice containing milk
star-crossed :opposed by fate; ill-fated
heroine:the principal female character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation
lovelorn:unhappy in love or suffering from unrequited love
peninsula: piece of land that projects into a body of water and is connected with the mainland by an isthmus.
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