As a part of our trip to Venice we went to visit Mantua, Padua and Verona. In Padua there is this fascinating little chapel called the Scrovegni Chapel which contains works by the artist Giotto. I highly recommend going to see this even if you’re not a fan of churches, because pictures don’t do it justice. The colour in the room is so bright considering it’s over 700 years old. Lapis and Gold make a beautiful contrast. I could go into all the history but that’s not what astonished me. I like to look at the details.

Mantua was the next stop and the Ducal Palace, Mantua and the “bridal chapel” Camera degli Sposi by Andrea Mantegna. There was some history behind this room and it defiantly felt quite odd, because most of the rest of the palace had no decoration left, but this room was preserved. The detail is beautiful even though some parts have fallen away. In the top corner of one of the frescos was what seemed to be a shadow of something that was added later on, in a paint that didn’t last as long as the original. There is something so beautiful about decay.

Finally we visited Verona, most commonly known as the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The two main places we went were Verona’s Arena and “Juliet’s Balcony”. The Arena was particularly pretty as we got there at sunset. It was built by the romans in the first century and is still used for concerts. Originally I’d thought that “Juliet’s Balcony” would be really bland and boring but it was amazing. The sheer amount of graffiti blew me away. Millions of signatures and notes stuck to the walls in everyday imaginable. Well worth the visit.