Roman Theatre and Archaeological Museum Site Features

What survives is the lower structure rather than a complete building: part of the semicircular cavea of stone seating, the orchestra, fragments of the stage building, and the arched substructures and terraces that carried the upper tiers up the hillside.

The theatre uses the slope directly, which is the Greek solution rather than the free-standing Roman one used at the Arena -- a useful contrast between the city's two Roman entertainment buildings.

Above it stand later buildings that were left in place rather than cleared: the church of Santi Siro e Libera, of the tenth century with a Baroque staircase, sits on the ruins, and the convent of San Girolamo occupies the top of the cavea.

That layering is much of the site's interest. Rather than a cleaned Roman monument, it is a hillside with a thousand years of building tangled into it.

The cavea and the view

From the seating the Adige, Ponte Pietra and the whole of old Verona lie below -- the best view of the city that does not require climbing to Castel San Pietro.

The Archaeological Museum

In the convent above, with Roman mosaics, bronzes, glass and inscriptions from the city, arranged through the cloisters and cells.

Santi Siro e Libera

A tenth-century church built directly on the Roman ruins and never removed, with a theatrical Baroque external stair.

The summer season

Shakespeare and classical drama staged in the theatre each summer since 1948.

The theatre occupies the lower slope of Castel San Pietro's hill, on the left bank of the Adige, directly opposite the bend that encloses the Roman and medieval city.

The Roman town lay across the river; the hillside here was outside it, which is why there was room to build into the slope.

The site rises in terraces from the riverbank to the convent at the top, so the whole visit is a climb, and the view improves the whole way up.