By Rafe Calder
Nobody wrote down when the Arena was built. That is the plain fact behind a building that has stood for roughly two thousand years, and it explains why every source below gives a slightly different story.
The building, as the sources give it
Wikipedia’s article on the Verona Arena says no written sources survive for its construction. The infobox says AD 30, while the text allows anything from the first to the third century, noting that one scholar proposed the second or third decade of the first century and another leaned towards the middle of that century. The national tourism site, Italia.it, is firmer: it says the Arena was built under Emperor Claudius, around 41 to 42 AD, decades before the Colosseum was inaugurated in 80 AD. We do not choose between them. Our reading: the tourism page states as settled what the encyclopaedia treats as an estimate.
Both agree on the outer size: 152.43 metres by 123.23 metres. Wikipedia adds that the central arena measures 75.68 by 44.43 metres, and that the building ranks eighth among Roman amphitheatres and fourth in Italy.
Three seating figures
- Wikipedia (Arena article): about 22,000 for summer performances today, with the stage taking about a third of the seats, and likely about 30,000 in Roman times.
- Italia.it: up to 30,000 spectators originally.
- Wikipedia (Verona article): about 25,000 spectators.
They are estimates for different eras and purposes, and the pages do not explain the gap.
What it is made of
The outer facade and pillars use red ammonitic limestone from Valpolicella, in pink and white variants, according to Wikipedia. Interior walls are rubble masonry faced with brick and pebbles, and the vaults are Roman concrete. The seating is in four zones divided by three concentric galleries, reached by 64 vomitoria, the stairways that let a crowd in and out.
Only a short stretch of the outer ring survives. Wikipedia calls it the Ala, four arches in three tiers. The article says much of the ring was pulled down to supply the Theodoric-era walls, lowering the building by about twelve metres, while the seating tiers were left alone. It also lists the earthquake of 3 January 1117 among later natural disasters, without detail.
From gladiators to opera
Wikipedia says the Arena Festival has staged opera since 1913, starting with Aida, with seasons running without a break apart from wartime. The same article also mentions a first opera season in 1856, and does not reconcile the two. Italia.it agrees on 1913 and Aida.
The city around it
UNESCO inscribed the City of Verona in 2000 under criteria (ii) and (iv). Its description says the city was founded in the first century BCE, flourished under the Scaliger family in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and belonged to the Republic of Venice from the fifteenth to the eighteenth. Wikipedia gives Roman colony status in 89 BC and municipium status in 49 BC.
UNESCO places the city at the foot of the Lessini Mountains on the Adige, with Roman remains including Porta Borsari, the Arco dei Gavi, the Ponte Pietra, the Roman theatre and the Arena. Britannica says the river half-encircles it. The Scaligers rebuilt the walls, and UNESCO says those walls kept nineteenth-century industry and railways out of the old centre.
Wikipedia lists the population at 255,133 in its infobox, 255,131 in its lead and 256,284 for 31 December 2024. Three numbers, one city, no explanation.
Squares and stones
UNESCO also names Piazza Bra, which it says has buildings from several eras. Piazza delle Erbe, near the old Roman forum, is described by UNESCO as having a picturesque fruit and vegetable market. Italia.it dates the Madonna Verona fountain there to 1368 and the column of the Lion of Saint Mark to 1523.
On Castelvecchio the sources split. Italia.it says it was built in 1354. Wikipedia says the bridge was completed in 1356, with a span of 48.70 metres, the largest bridge arch in the world at the time. Italia.it says retreating German troops blew up the bridge in 1945 and it was rebuilt. UNESCO credits post-war reconstruction, including the Roman bridge, to careful documentation and reuse of original materials.
Juliet’s house
Wikipedia says the house was a medieval property linked to the Cappello family, that its connection to Shakespeare’s Capulets came later, and that the courtyard balcony was added in the 1930s when it became a museum. Italia.it says the house dates to the thirteenth century, was restored in the mid-1930s, and that the courtyard statue is a copy made in 1969. Our reading: the romance is a literary layer on a real medieval building, and the sources keep the two apart.
Dates in order
- 89 BC and 49 BC: colony, then municipium (Wikipedia).
- AD 30 or 41 to 42: the Arena, depending on the source.
- 1117: earthquake (Wikipedia).
- 1354 to 1356: Castelvecchio and its bridge (Italia.it, Wikipedia).
- 1405: Verona passes to Venice (UNESCO, Wikipedia).
- 1866: joins the Kingdom of Italy (UNESCO).
- 1913: Aida at the Arena.
- 2000: UNESCO listing.
What we left out
Ticket prices, season dates, opening hours and which nights sell out. We also left out the plague years and wartime episodes in the sources, which are not about craft or travel planning.
Quick answers
How old is the Verona Arena? Wikipedia says no written sources survive and offers AD 30 or a range from the first to third century. Italia.it says around 41 to 42 AD.
How many people does the Arena hold? Wikipedia says about 22,000 for summer performances today. Italia.it says up to 30,000 originally.
When was Verona listed by UNESCO? In 2000, according to UNESCO and Wikipedia, as a city that developed continuously for 2,000 years.
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