Casa di Romeo

Casa di Romeo stands in a narrow, hidden alley in the oldest part of Verona, just behind the Scala family tombs. Built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The brick structure looks like a small castle, with a sturdy tower and high, crenellated walls. Look up and you will see the swallowtail crenellations, the V-shaped battlements that marked the Ghibellines. The Ghibellines were the political faction backing the emperor in medieval Italy.

The Montecchi family lived here until the early fourteenth century, as Ghibellines and supporters of the leader Ezzelino da Romano. When he died in 1259, the Scala family took power in Verona. In 1325 the Montecchi joined a plot to overthrow them, and it failed. The Scala exiled the conspirators and gave this palace to their allies, the Nogarola family. Historians credit the building to Cagnolo Nogarola, yet the Montecchi are the family believed to have inspired Shakespeare's Montagues. Legend has it that this was Romeo's family home. Dante named the Montecchi and the Capulets in the Divine Comedy, speaking of the disasters Italy's factional struggles caused. Shakespeare never says what the original grudge between Montagues and Capulets was, and feuds like these make a plausible root.

The house is privately owned, so you cannot go inside, but the ground floor holds a typical Veronese tavern. Locals eat traditional dishes there while the Gothic façade above carries an inscription quoting lines from Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's house lies nearby, and the two are often paired on Shakespeare-themed tours of the city. The enclosed courtyard and high walls serve both privacy and defense. The narrow, dark street and the imposing brick walls take you back to medieval Verona, where history, legend and literature meet.