Verona, Italy

Verona sits on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with roughly 258,000 residents living inside a UNESCO-listed centre that began as a Roman settlement in 89 BC. The Verona Arena, built in 30 AD and measuring 152 metres long, seats 15,000 people and still stages opera every summer. The 1354 Castelvecchio bridge crosses the river on five segmental arches beside a red-brick keep, while its museum was rehung by Carlo Scarpa in 1964. At Via Cappello 23, the 12th-century Casa di Giulietta carries a balcony added in 1936 to match the Romeo and Juliet setting — though the real identity of its inspiration remains unsettled.