· Use the internet to visit www.arena.it. You will get a seating plan and every thing you need to know, in English too! If you like to dress up and want to be seen then pay for a seat in the stalls L299.000, otherwise go for the un numbered spaces on the steps L41.000.

Hire a cushion at the arena, take a picnic and your own wine (no glass allowed so decant into plastic bottle). The weather can go either way - summer storms at night are common in this area so bring lightweight waterproof and sweater; or more typically it is hot and airless with mosquitoes (non malarial) out for a bite.It is the only way to see Aida.
Franki Mccabe

· This time last year we booked good seats for the opera through:
Montebaldo Viagga
Via della Liberta 10
37016 Garda (VR)
Tel 0457255666
Fax 0457256611
info@montebaldo.com

We booked via email and telephone. Speak to Stefania, she has good English, and included a bus reservation from the town where we were staying. Everything went smoothly, I can't praise their service highly enough.
Good Luck
Tom Corby

· The seating plan for the Verona Arena is limited to the seats in the rows immediately in front of the stage, and the numbered steps up the sides of the stage. However, if you buy one of the cheap tickets for the unnumbered steps, it is simply a question of queuing up early with the crowd, renting a cushion for a nominal fee, and sitting anywhere you like in the vast arena. For the unnumbered spaces you don't even have to book in advance.

More often than not you will find yourself surrounded by Italians who bring picnics, ignore the injunctions not to smoke, and join in with the famous choruses of the operas. What is going on down on stage can be run-of-the-mill, wonderful, or eccentric; but sitting on the steps (which, in a hot summer, still retain their warmth at midnight) is an amazing experience regardless of the music!
Barbara Forbes