Description
Romeo's House is a medieval house on Via Arche Scaligere in Verona, a few steps from the Scaliger Tombs and not far from the better-known Juliet's House. It is one of the city's Shakespearean sites, but it is a private home and cannot be visited.
The story is a little different from what the name suggests. According to historians, the building was the residence of Cagnolo Nogarola, of the powerful Veronese family of French origin, the Nogarola, not of any Romeo.
The link with Shakespeare's tragedy comes from elsewhere. In this district of the historic center the family of the Montecchi really did live, one of the main Ghibelline families of Verona in the late Middle Ages. And that was enough to point to this place as Romeo's house.
A crenellated wall separates the house from the street, and in the middle opens the portal that gives onto the courtyard. The Gothic facade, from the 1300s, suits a medieval love story.
Behind the wall, the courtyard is enclosed on three sides by brick buildings. Originally all three had a loggia on the ground floor: today only one remains, the one facing the portal, while the other two have been walled up and absorbed into the building.
Looking at the fronts you can read different eras: the windows are Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance, side by side. On the right the battlements are still the original ones. For this reason the house is considered one of the best-preserved medieval homes in Verona.
For the tribute to Romeo, look at the facade: it bears an inscription with the young lover's words, "Oh! Where is Romeo?... Peace, I have lost myself: I am not here and I am not Romeo, Romeo is elsewhere."
It is a good stop for anyone who wants to see the places of Romeo and Juliet, but the visit is from the outside: you look, you take a photo, and you move on toward the Scaliger Tombs, the church of Santa Maria Antica and Piazza dei Signori, all a few steps away.
The story is a little different from what the name suggests. According to historians, the building was the residence of Cagnolo Nogarola, of the powerful Veronese family of French origin, the Nogarola, not of any Romeo.
The link with Shakespeare's tragedy comes from elsewhere. In this district of the historic center the family of the Montecchi really did live, one of the main Ghibelline families of Verona in the late Middle Ages. And that was enough to point to this place as Romeo's house.
A crenellated wall separates the house from the street, and in the middle opens the portal that gives onto the courtyard. The Gothic facade, from the 1300s, suits a medieval love story.
Behind the wall, the courtyard is enclosed on three sides by brick buildings. Originally all three had a loggia on the ground floor: today only one remains, the one facing the portal, while the other two have been walled up and absorbed into the building.
Looking at the fronts you can read different eras: the windows are Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance, side by side. On the right the battlements are still the original ones. For this reason the house is considered one of the best-preserved medieval homes in Verona.
For the tribute to Romeo, look at the facade: it bears an inscription with the young lover's words, "Oh! Where is Romeo?... Peace, I have lost myself: I am not here and I am not Romeo, Romeo is elsewhere."
It is a good stop for anyone who wants to see the places of Romeo and Juliet, but the visit is from the outside: you look, you take a photo, and you move on toward the Scaliger Tombs, the church of Santa Maria Antica and Piazza dei Signori, all a few steps away.