Verona Cathedral

Verona's cathedral sits in a bend of the Adige at the northern end of the old city, and it is not one building but a walled precinct of several.

The church itself is Romanesque below and Gothic above, with a carved porch by Nicolò -- the sculptor of San Zeno's facade -- whose door jambs carry Roland and Oliver, the paladins of Charlemagne, in a Christian cathedral.

Inside is Titian's Assumption, painted around 1535 for a chapel screened by Sanmicheli. Alongside stand the baptistery, the church of Sant'Elena, a Romanesque cloister and the Biblioteca Capitolare, one of the oldest working libraries in the world.

This is not one church but a walled precinct — cathedral, baptistery, Sant'Elena and a cloister with excavated early churches beneath it — and doing it properly takes an hour, which is more than most people have allowed. The hours are the tightest of the Verona churches: it opens at 11.00 in summer, two hours after San Zeno, and shuts at 15.30 on Saturdays. Sunday visiting does not start until 13.30.

What is free

The piazza and the west front are free, including the carved Romanesque porch over the main door, which is the best sculpture on the building and is outside the ticket line.

The €4 ticket (€8 for the four-church pass) covers the whole precinct — cathedral, baptistery, Sant'Elena and the cloister — and is waived for residents of Verona, its province and diocese, children under 11, members of religious orders, registered guides, journalists, military personnel, and a visitor with a disability plus one companion.

The Biblioteca Capitolare sits outside this ticket entirely: it is a separate institution with its own admission and hours.

It is a ten-minute walk north from Piazza delle Erbe, close to Ponte Pietra, and combines naturally with Sant'Anastasia and the Roman theatre across the river.

The Biblioteca Capitolare is a separate institution with its own limited opening hours -- check before counting on it.

Allow forty-five minutes for the precinct, longer with the library.

The church is largely level at the entrance; the cloister and excavations involve steps and uneven ground.

Hours are seasonal and shorter on Sunday mornings. Shoulders and knees should be covered.

The cathedral charges a small admission covering the whole precinct -- church, baptistery, Sant'Elena and the cloister -- and is included in the Verona Card and the combined church ticket.

Wheelchair access is possible, which Chiese Vive states without the qualification it gives San Zeno. Free entry for a disabled visitor and their companion.

Worth knowing before you plan an hour here: this is a walled precinct rather than one church, and the ticket covers the cathedral, the baptistery, Sant'Elena and the cloister with the excavated early churches beneath it. The excavations are below the cloister floor, so the one part of the visit that is certainly not level is also the part most easily left out without losing the point.

Saturday is the short day — closing at 15:30 in winter, two hours earlier than Monday to Friday — which matters more here than elsewhere because the outlying parts of the precinct sometimes shut before the cathedral does.

Not specified, and not guessed: whether the baptistery, Sant'Elena and the cloister are each reachable step-free, and what the route to the excavations involves.

An active cathedral and a diocesan seat: keep quiet, stay out of services, and do not photograph people at prayer.

No flash, especially near the Titian, which hangs in its original chapel rather than in museum conditions.

The early-Christian pavements under the cloister are original mosaic. Keep to the walkways.

Buy the combined church ticket. It funds maintenance across churches that see far fewer visitors than this one.

The Biblioteca Capitolare is a working research library, not an exhibit. If you visit, do so on its terms.