Roman Theatre and Archaeological Museum

Verona has two Roman entertainment buildings, and most visitors only find one. The Arena is the amphitheatre, for games; the Teatro Romano, on the far bank of the Adige below Castel San Pietro, is the theatre, for drama.

It was built in the late first century BC, buried under houses for centuries, and dug out from the 1830s by a Veronese merchant who bought the buildings on top of it and pulled them down.

Above the seating, in a former convent, sits the Archaeological Museum. The theatre still stages plays each summer.

Closed Mondays, and in summer the theatre is a stage. From June the cavea is fitted with a modern platform for the Estate Teatrale Veronese, the Shakespeare festival it has run for decades, and the monument is visited around the programme rather than instead of it. The Arena does the same thing and everyone knows; here it surprises people.

The quieter half of the trap is the clock. The museum shuts at 18:00 and the last entry is 17:30 — early for a site most visitors reach late in the day, after the climb to Castel San Pietro above it.

One ticket covers the theatre and the Archaeological Museum above it, in the former convent — they are not separable, and the museum is the better half more often than visitors expect.

• €9.00 full
• €6.00 reduced — groups of fifteen or more, over-65s, Veneto MyCARD holders, specific agreements
• €2.00 for 18–25s — EU citizens, and non-EU on a reciprocity basis (currently Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Uruguay)
• Free — under-18s, with under-14s accompanied; disabled visitors and their companion

€1 on the first Sunday of the month, November to March. That rate applies across Verona's civic museums in the winter half of the year, and it is the cheapest way to see this one.

Buy online at verona.coopculture.it or at the ticket office at the museum entrance. Anyone claiming a reduction or a free entry has to show the document that justifies it on the way in.

One ticket covers the theatre and the museum, and both are included in the Verona Card.

Free entry for a disabled visitor and their companion.

This is a Roman theatre cut into a hillside, and the site climbs: the cavea rises in stone tiers from the river level, and the Archaeological Museum sits above the seating in a former convent reached from the top of it. Expect height gain and historic stone throughout.

Not published, and not guessed: whether a lift serves the museum above the cavea, and whether any step-free route reaches the theatre floor. The museum service publishes an accessibility declaration and answers enquiries — ask before you travel, and we will record what they say.

The Roman stonework is the exhibit and much of it is walked on. Keep to the marked routes, and do not climb on the ruined stage building or the substructures.

Do not remove anything, including loose fragments -- this remains an archaeological site.

The hillside above is residential. Keep noise down, particularly leaving evening performances.

Combining the ticket with the Verona Card supports the city's smaller museums, which are far less visited than this one.

Arrive on foot over Ponte Pietra rather than driving; the streets on this bank are narrow and largely residential.