Verona

The easy-going city of VERONA is the largest city of the Veneto, and, with its wealth of Roman sites and streets of pink-hued medieval buildings, one of its most interesting. First settled by the Romans, it later became an independent city-state, reaching its zenith in the thirteenth century under the Scaligeri family. Ruthless in the exercise of power, the Scaligeri were at the same time energetic patrons of the arts, and many of Verona's finest buildings date from the century of their rule. With their fall, the Viscontis of Milan assumed control of the city, which was later absorbed into the Venetian empire.