Verona vs Mantua for a 3 week stay

Welcome

Your question is a bit too broad

Who is we?
Time of year?
Plans- what interests you?
Will you travel around by car or public transportation?

The Po Valley is huge and stretches about 400 miles from the western Alps to the Adriatic. You’ve got to be a bit more specific in where you want to visit. Based on your mention of Verona and Mantua, a great city to use as a base is Parma. Nice attractions in a smaller, centrally located city with great food. To me, the food and dining in Parma is better than fabled Bologna.

Sorry, it does seem like a very general question. We are a couple of seniors who have narrowed down our choices of places to stay to Verona or Mantua. The stay will be in October. We are interested in everyday life and culture in Italy as well as Italian history. Generalists to our core. Last year we spent 3 weeks in Salerno and 3 weeks in Sicily. This year we are moving a bit to the north. Thanks

Hello cnebach, and welcome to the forum!

I know Verona pretty well but unfortunately I've never been to Mantua so I can't really compare them.

Verona is a great walking town - the center is nearly traffic free and buildings with faded murals and painted details lurk in unlikely corners. The an intact Roman Arena and Theater which are still used for events with music and opera being a big part of the city's summer schedule including concerts and opera. The Theater includes the Archeological Museum which is small but also gives you access to the rambling remains of old religious sites there. If you go all the way to the top you are just below the height of the castle site which is on the other side of the fence. If you like modern art check out the small Palazzo Maffei Casa Museo which mixes ancient and modern art, a palazzo and rooftop tour all into one place overlooking piazza Erbe and is underadvertised. I think Piazza Erbe (looking past the market stands) is one of the prettiest piazzas in Italy. Verona has the 'elegant decay' feeling with faded murals on medieval buildings that the Veneto does so well. The nearby Piazza dei Signori is less grand but contains a ton of history and has buildings from all the eras of Verona.

There are four big church sites and a pass for all of them if you are interested. The Cathedral is in the downtown area but the The Basilica of San Zeno is in the relative outskirts.
https://www.chieseverona.it/en

Al Grottino - Osteria e Sbecoleria is a great hole in the wall place off Piazza Erbe for a drink and cicchetti. Cafe Monte Baldo nearby also has great cicchetti and more serious food if you want that. Right near the cafe there is Arcivio a super small, super hip cocktail bar. There is no lack of good restaurants in Verona but read the menu carefully at the older places because the cuisine can be very "traditional". There are many wine-centric resultants like Osteria del Bugiardo. Al Grottino only has a few wines but they were really good. The main wine in the Verona area is Valpolicella which comes in the grades Classico Superiore, Ripasso and Amarone increasing in quality and price. Given how cheap the wine is I wouldn't go lower than Ripasso and even the highest Amarone seems cheap by stateside standards - 8-9e a glass. There are cafes with outdoor seating everywhere in Verona whenever you decide to want to sit and/or spritz.

Verona will probably be more expensive to stay in - I assume this based on it's tourist appeal with German tourists and its proximity to Lake Garda and local events. Verona is a good place to make day trips from if you're interested in that - Padua, Brescia, Venice, Bologna, Trento etc. If you're going to stay for a long time I would recommend looking into some places that are more local neighborhoods than downtown. I really like Veronetta - across the upper river from the old town - but I would stay north of Via Gaetano Trezza as Via Venti Settembre is slid a little bit in recent years. Although the Porta Vescovo area can be a hopping place in the evenings. The other real neighborhood area is the San Zeno area on the other side of old town. The Borgo Trento area is almost entirely residential and I wouldn't recommend it unless it is very close to the old town area.

Whichever you choose, enjoy,
=Tod

Hi, I have stayed in both cities. Verona will be easier for day trips. But since you mentioned Salerno - another place I stayed, I think you might like Mantova. There’s less tourists, and it has three adjacent piazzas that are wonderful for the evening passeggiata. It’s only about 30 minutes by train up to Verona, so you aren’t isolated there. It’s a nice biking city, too, with the water routes, too. Mantova would be less expensive but check if it would be too quiet for you.

I am very interested to know where you stayed in Salerno for three weeks?

I’m heading to Naples area for a month later this year and want to spend some time in Salerno.

Thank you

@rob_chris You should start a new thread about Salerno questions rather than derail this thread.

@cnebach I would normally warn people that getting off the tourist track means less English but given your previous stays I'm going to assume you know all this. We spent 9 days in Salerno and enjoyed the "southern" energy and it seemed more like touring Italy in the 90s. The north is definitely more refined with Verona being about opera and more arty things.

Either option sounds worth doing,
=Tod