When conversation strays in the direction of Roman Amphitheatres, the question ‘Have you been to the one in Verona?’ quite often comes up. The answer as of March 2026 will henceforth be yes. The Roman city of Verona occupied an easily defensible bend in the River Adige. To the south of and outside the walls was built an amphitheatre, completed in 30AD. Historians have argued the toss over its date, with Luigi Beschi advocating mid 3rd century, and Pirro Marconi (for those in the know, absolutely nothing to do with the guitar player from Adam and the Ants!) pushing for 2nd-3rd century. The current consensus is late Augustan, early Claudian and the structure bears stylistic and architectural similarities with Pula. Avoiding the pitfalls of having to expand or replace a structure that couldn’t accommodate a growing population, they went large from the start with a 30,000 seat venue surrounded by a three-arch high decorated curtain wall.

During decline of the empire and barbarian invasions of the 3rd century a curtain wall linking it within the city defences was added. This didn’t apparently stop a successful seige by Constantine in 312 (Depicted and celebrated of course on the triumphal Arch of Constantine in Rome).

Verona fell within the medieval kingdom of the Ostragoth Theodoric the Great and bits of amphitheatre have been found used in his 6th century defences. By the 12th century the amphitheatre was still being referred to as the ‘house of Theodoric’.

Over the centuries the flat plains below the Dolomites experienced floods (including in 569) and earthquakes (in 1116 and 1117) which contributed towards raising the ground level around the structure and demolishing most of the outer wall (which still appeared intact in a mid 10th century depiction). Quarrying proceeded until the 13th century when the first statutes to protect it appeared. At that time it served as a venue for professional fights to resolve legal disputes (mentioned in Dante’s Inferno) heretic burning (200 Cathars in 1278) a residence/workplace for the city’s prostitutes and a jousting arena.

Verona seems to have been in the game early when Renaissance attitudes towards history began to emerge. Prostitutes evicted, merchants in, architectural surveys and plans for restoration all started in the 1500s. Things gathered pace in the 1700s. Four feet of earth were removed from the arena floor the remainder of the outer wall was stabilised and restored, and occasional jousting spectacles gave way to theatrical activity as well as bull-baiting with dogs. Napoleon Bonaparte turned up for a bull hunt in 1808. In 1816 French rule ended and Verona became part of Austrian Lombardy-Venetia. The municipality evicted 36 tenants and assigned 42 arcades for storage use and drew up a further work plan for restoration focused on removing two metres of flood sediment from the surroundings, demolishing buildings and setting out the Piazza Bra. Bull-baiting gave way to equestrian events, circuses, cycle races, hot air balloon displays, gymnastics and comedies in the Imperial Austrian era. Joining the kingdom of Italy in 1866 was celebrated in the arena in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel II and led to further restoration and repair programmes.

Whilst the first Opera season took place in 1856, it was the launch of the Arena di Verona Festival in 1913 with a performance of Aida which established it as the world’s largest open-air opera venue.

The complete interior continues to provide a working venue for the annual season of opera, sports and rock concerts. My visit took place a week after it had hosted the closing ceremony of the winter Olympics, consequently the arena was cordoned off with heras fencing whilst a hi-vis army laboured (at an Italian pace) to dismantle and remove the elaborate staging and security measures. I nipped back a week later and they were still at it. A visit inside will have to await another trip.