Teatro Romano e Museo Archeologico al Teatro Romano

On the left bank of the Adige, Verona's Roman theatre climbs the hillside of Colle San Pietro. A fifteenth-century convent above it houses the archaeological museum, whose collections include Roman inscriptions, mosaics, sculpture and columns from the Arena.

Why it matters

UNESCO includes the theatre among Verona's notable Roman remains. Built against the hill at the end of the first century BCE, under Augustus, it extended from the riverbank up the slope, with the audience facing the Roman city across the water. The Museo Archeologico al Teatro Romano preserves archaeological material from Verona, including monuments, sacred and funerary inscriptions, mosaics, sculptures and columns recovered from the Arena. Its home is a convent with terraces overlooking the city and river.

What to notice

The surviving tufa walls and stage-curtain machinery mark the area of the scaena; above them, the cavea climbs the slope. Much of the seating was reconstructed in the early twentieth century after centuries of burial. The museum occupies the rooms and cloister of the former Gesuati convent. Its collections include mosaics displayed in their found arrangements, funerary and sacred inscriptions, and columns from the Arena on the Grande Terrazza, which overlooks the historic centre. The convent was built by the Gesuati, an order associated with medicines, perfumes and liqueurs; its cisterns and courtyards reflect those activities. The ancient orchestra also remains in use for performances.

Context and history

The theatre's remains were buried beneath later construction until Andrea Monga began uncovering them in 1834. The wealthy Veronese merchant bought the area to excavate it. The municipality acquired the complex in 1904. In the early twentieth century, seating was reconstructed and the archaeological museum was established in the late-fifteenth-century Gesuati convent. The order was founded by Giovanni Colombini of Siena in 1367. The site continues to host the Estate Teatrale Veronese, including music, theatre and dance on a modern stage over the ancient orchestra. It is part of the Roman archaeological ensemble within Verona's continuously developed historic city.