Verona Webcam - Opera Festival 2010 Live at the Verona Arena

The 2010 Verona Opera Festival continues apace in the glorious splendour of the original open-air amphitheatre in the heart of Italy. Built in the second century, Verona's Arena di Verona is the third largest Roman amphitheatre in the world.

This live webcam is at the Verona Arena throughout the 2010 Opera Festival:

Verona Arena webcam

Location Information:

The Verona Arena (Arena di Verona) is a Roman amphitheatre in Verona, Italy, which is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind.

The building itself was built in AD 30 on a site which was then beyond the city walls. The ludi (shows and games) staged there were so famous that spectators came from many other places, often far away, to witness them. The amphitheatre could host more than 30,000 spectators in ancient times.

The round façade of the building was originally composed of white and pink limestone from Valpolicella; but after a major earthquake in 1117, which almost completely destroyed the structure's outer ring, except for the so-called "ala", the stone was quarried for re-use in other buildings.

The first interventions to recover the arena's function as a theatre began during the Renaissance. Some operatic performances were later mounted in the building during the 1850s, owing to its outstanding acoustics.