Bailey Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Does anybody have experience of camping in or near Verona. I hope to travel there during the summer to attend some of the Operas. I have been looking at campsites on Lake Garda but there are so many. I am looking for a site that would be preferably on the lake and would be near a train station as I don't fancy driving into the City. I would prefer a small site rather than the 'Holiday Club' type. Any help would be appreciated. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Lee Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Years and years ago we stayed on a site just north of Verona - must be twenty years ago at least and I am afraid I cannot remember the name, if indeed it is still there, which is not a lot of help to you now, is it?! The problem was that it was fenced and gated, and the gates were locked at 11.00 p.m. which we didn't think would be late enough for us to get back from the opera. When we asked at the office, we were told the gates would be locked "half an hour after the end of the performance". This didn't leave us much time to get back to the car, find our way out of the city and into the site, and we were cursing the amount of traffic on the road in front of us. As we approached the site at around midnight, all the cars in front and behind starting indicating right, to turn into the gates, we had all made the same mad dash! Being English, we of course had had our "dinner" early, before the performance, but all the folk around us proceeded to set up chairs, tables and barbecues, so we didn't get much sleep in our tent. Incidentally, we didn't see opera, it was the Bolshoi ballet doing Romeo and Juliet. It was generally stunning, but there were some hilarious bits, not least the men with the vacuum cleaners who came on beforehand and again during the interval to clean the stage - there are, of course, no curtains. We were also amused when walking around the outside of the arena to see all the set for Aida , huge cardboard columns and polystyrene lions, unceremoniously piled up in the street. I have a book entitled "Great Operatic Disasters" and at the risk of boring you all (you can always skip the rest) I quote: Carmen, Arena di Verona, 1970 It was horses all the way, thirty eight horses to be exact. They crossed and recrossed the stage in the background during the first act. They turned up to take Jose away from the inn in the second act. The third act opened with them all standing - a rather forlorn little group - on an artificial mountain. In Act IV they reappeared for Escamillo's procession, covered in Spanish finery and ridden by the picadors, but all looking alarmingly tired and nervous. In fact, all went well until the very last horse made its way from the back round in a great circle to the Plaza de Toros on the right of the stage. As it approached the orchestra pit, the conductor (Gianandrea Gavazzeni) gave a violent up-beat and the horse took off towards him as if the orchestra pit was Becher's Brook. But that splendid old maestro must have worked some instant magic - the horse merely landed on the kettle drums with an enormous crash, miraculously injuring neither itself nor its rider. We waited with bated breath to see what COULD happen next - in fact it proved to be the spectacle of Gavazzeni laying down his baton (the unthinkable) and - fatally - murmuring (forgetting that in that unique auditorium the slightest whisper is at once audible to 15,000 people) the words "Quel piccolo finocchio di regista" (an Italian insult better not translated). Amid cascades of laughter, the whole procession had to unwind backwards and then re-enter, this time without mishap. Judge of our amazement then, when in the last act, just as Franco Corelli was preparing to kill Grace Bumbry, a cat came bounding down from the back of the Arena (cats at Verona play much the same role as bats at Glyndebourne). Naturally attracted to whichever of the two was singing, it rubbed itself against Corelli's legs, purring and looking wistfully up as he cried "Eh bien, damnee". Thank you for bringing back lovely memories - we must go again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Hi Aileen, You could use camping Amici Di Lazise on lake garda. The site is not that big and has the advantage the Bus in the evenings stops in Lazise for the opera and brings you back that evening for if I can remember €5 each 2007 The little village of Lazise is fab and the walks along lake garda is something else. Regards, Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
degsy Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 It's a few years since we have been to Verona but there is a campsite just outside the city, I think it is called Romeo & Giulietta. During the opera season they run transport from the campsite to the Arena so you should have no difficulty get there and back. The operas do tend to start and finish late so expect to get home after one o'clock in the morning. It's well worth it though, with over 15 thousand spectators it really is a different opera experience. Get in the queue early (about 7pm) for a start at 9pm and take a picnic with you. That is presuming you don't have (expensive) numbered seat tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 You need to get moving....decent sites in the area probably booked by now *-) we use Forenella and this gets booked by Christmas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Thanks for all the help - I'll get on to it straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Hi JudgeMental. Regarding booking campsites. You say good sites in the area could be already booked out. Will we have a problem all over Northern Italy in the high season or is it only in the Verona area. I intend spending a few weeks in the area but hadn't intended booking everything in advance. I will book a site in the vicinity of Verona but had hoped to go on spec after that. What do you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 You will always find somewhere. Before the children we never booked and always found a place. But they require only the best (most expensive*-) ) so we need to book these well in advance as they get booked up very early. Not only in Italy everywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianR Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 We also have used the Romeo and Juliet site. In addition to the special buses there is a regular service which stops right outside the site and takes you into the centre. The site was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 We camped at Verona in June last year. We approached Verona from the southern end of Lake Garda - I think we were on the SR11. We looked for a camping ground listed in the CC guide as being on that road a few kilometres outside Verona, but couldn't find it. We ended up at Camping Castel San Pietro on a hill overlooking the city. Here is their web address: www.campingcastelsanpietro.com. It's an odd camping ground and is really designed only for tents, but there are a few sites where a motorhome or caravan can be accommodated. The grounds are huge and bush-clad and flow down the hill in a series of terraces, most of which are inaccessible to motor vehicles. However, there are a few sites up at road level that are fine for motorhomes or small caravans. Demand for these is high and advance booking would be needed to reserve one of them. We have a small motorhome (Duetto) and they squeezed us in with two other vans in another area just below the administration building. There was a very steep gravelled driveway down to it but we managed to get back out again, albeit with some wheelspinning. Facilities are very old and run down but everything worked fine. The chap usually in the office (Giovanni) spoke perfect English. There is a small restaurant and shop, and free wifi (only near the office) that has to be set up on your laptop by Giovanni. The big plus is that you can walk to the central city in 20 minutes. Coming back is a little slower as it is up a vast number of steps, but it's manageable. You can take longer and follow the road if the steps are too daunting. We went to an opera in the Roman amphitheatre and sat in the cheap seats for 24.50 Euro each. It had been 37 degrees that day and the stone seats were very hot. We sweated the whole time as the heat rose up from the stone. A cushion is essential as the stone tends to become very hard. The opera took about 3.5 hours so it was about 1am before we got back to camp. The opera is highly recommended for the atmosphere alone. We're not opera buffs but it was a memorable evening for its setting and the way it was organised. Wonderful! I don't know what other sites may be in the Verona area - we were too hot and tired to look any further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Booking camping sites may not be so urgent these days. I am currently in Spain and most camping sites are little more than half full. As I understand that most of Europe is in the same position this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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