Verona
HISTORY OF THE CITY
Verona is a well-known tourist destination, visited every year by more than three million people thanks to its artistic and architectural richness, and for the international events that are hosted in the city. The city has been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture: Verona is a clear example of a city that developed progressively and continuously during 2000 years, integrating artistic elements of the highest quality in the different periods that succeeded; furthermore, it’s one of the best examples of a city that has been fortified in stages in diferent historical periods. The city developed alongthe banks of the river Adige, where it enters the Po Valley (Pianura Padana) and it forms a characteristic double meander, about 30 kms east of the Garda lake and at the feet of the southern side of the Lessini mountains. In antiquity, the city was a focal point of both ground and naval transportation in the north-east of Italy. In Roman times, it was the crossing point of four major streets: the via Gallica, the via Claudia Augusta, the vicum Veronensium and the via Postumia. Even today Verona represents an important crossing point -roads, railwaysand highways- connecting central and northwestern Italy with the Brennero pass. The first contacts between Rome and Verona probably took place around 390 a.d., when the Gauls of Brenno invaded Rome. In 174 a.d. after the submission of the cisalpine Gallia and the beginning of a new colonization period of the Po valley, the strategic importance of Verona became evident. The Roman senate asked the Cenomas and the Venetis to increase in size the fortified castrum that they gave as a concession on the San Pietro hill, while Roman settlers and indigenous peoples formed the basis for the edification of a new city inside the Adige loop. Thanks to Caesar Verona obtained in 49 a.d. Roman citizenship and the municipality could then boast the title of “Res publica Veronensium”. During the Republican era, Verona expanded and its economy strengthened: in this period the city, by now fully located inside the Adige loop, started to grow and modernize. During the imperial period the city became an even more
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