Verona summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Verona.

Verona, City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 243,474), northern Italy. Located on the Adige River, it became a Roman colony in 89 bc and was the birthplace of the poet Catullus. It was captured by the Goths after the fall of the Roman Empire and was the site of Odoacer’s defeat by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric in 489. It was occupied by Charlemagne in 774. Verona came under the della Scala family (1260–1387), the era recalled in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It passed in 1405 to Venice, which held it almost continuously until 1797, when it was ceded to Austria. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. It is noted for its ancient Roman amphitheatre (1st century ad), now used for opera, and for Romanesque and Gothic buildings.

Italy Summary

Italy, country of south-central Europe, occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the Mediterranean Sea. Italy comprises some of the most varied and scenic landscapes on Earth and is often described as a country shaped like a boot. At its broad top stand the Alps, which are among the world’s most