Roman Theatre and Archaeological Museum

Teatro Romano Verona: a Roman theatre dug out from under the houses

From at least the 10th century, houses and churches were built over the seating and the stage of Verona’s Teatro Romano, and the theatre disappeared beneath them. A merchant, Andrea Monga (1794-1861), bought up the area, had the buildings pulled down and dug the theatre out. The city bought the whole site in 1904, and much of the seating you climb today was put back or rebuilt in the early 20th century.

You climb through a theatre laid out on the slope. The cavea, the seating, rests partly on the hill and partly on walls that fan out beneath it, and at the bottom are the semicircular orchestra and what’s left of the stage building, in blocks of tufa, with the three doors the actors used and the pit for the curtain. Higher up, a terrace carries a small gallery of arches, also rebuilt.

In summer the cavea takes a modern stage for the Estate Teatrale Veronese, a theatre festival built around Shakespeare, and for other shows, and the route round the theatre changes while it’s up. In 2026 the city announced the works from 31 March; its page still carries that notice and doesn’t say whether the stage has come down.

One ticket for the Roman Theatre and the archaeological museum

A single ticket takes you into the theatre and the museum, and you don’t need to book. You can buy it at the museum’s ticket office or online at verona.coopculture.it, which sells the tickets for Verona’s civic museums.

Until 6 January 2027 the ticket also takes in, at no extra cost, Pieghe di pietra, a show of work by the sculptor Raffaello Galiotto that includes a small bronze, Genesi. Children under 14 have to come with an adult. On Friday 13 November, Notte al Museo is a museum night for ages 7 to 11, and from October to January Merendocchio al museo offers activities for ages 6 to 11.

The Roman Theatre on the VeronaCard

The VeronaCard includes the theatre and the museum together. Under-18s go in free here anyway, so in a family only the adults would need a VeronaCard.

Inside the archaeological museum, at the top of the theatre

The complex once covered about 150 metres across the hillside and 107 metres deep, with a drop of 60 metres from top to bottom. The museum is at the top and can only be reached by the theatre’s steps, so it isn’t accessible to wheelchair users or to anyone with reduced mobility.

It has filled the former convent of San Girolamo since 1914, with its main display in the old refectory. The finds are mostly Roman, from Verona and the country around it: a seated woman from the 2nd century, a 1st-century man in a cuirass who was either an emperor or a high commander, and a herm of a young satyr from the time of Augustus. Among the smaller pieces is a relief of a gladiator fighting a big cat.

The model of the theatre was made in 1997 from drawings by the architect Andrea Palladio. The museum’s garden, once the garden of the Gesuati, grows capers, palms and olive trees, and Giorgio Vasari, who wrote the lives of the Renaissance artists, was already praising its view. On the hilltop above, the foundations of Castel San Pietro turned up a Roman temple in 1851.

Roman Theatre opening hours, access and free guided visits

The ticket office has a ramp and the toilets are on the ground floor behind it, but above that it’s all steps. There’s a simplified audio guide in English, Italian, French and German, started from a QR code, and a guide in augmentative and alternative communication for visitors with communication difficulties.

There’s no cloakroom, so leave big bags behind, and food and drink stay outside. Guide dogs are always welcome, and small dogs come in a carrier.

On Sunday 8 November and Sunday 6 December at 11:00, and on Saturday 19 December at 15:00, there’s a free guided visit of the collections: you pay the entry and book ahead with the civic museums’ education service on 045 8036353.

Getting to the Roman Theatre by the Ponte Pietra

The theatre is at Regaste Redentore 2, by the Ponte Pietra, on the far side of the river from the old centre. ATV buses run from Porta Nuova station to the Ponte Pietra stop, and the site is outside the ZTL, the limited-traffic zone, with a parking space for disabled visitors in piazza Martiri della Libertà. Right beside the theatre, a funicular climbs to Castel San Pietro on the hilltop.