Bologna

Verona Porta Nuova

Verona Porta Nuova is the main railway station of Verona. It is one of the two stations serving central Verona; the other station, Verona Porta Vescovo, is located at the east of the city. It is situated at Piazzale XXV Aprile at the south of the city centre.

Verona Porta Nuova is a major cross-junction station in Italy: the north-south Brenner Railway connecting Austria and Bologna meets the east-west Milan-Venice railway. The north-south route has been classified by the European Union as Trans-European Network (TEN) Axis No. 1 Berlin-Palermo. The station handles 25 million passengers annually.

The station building of Verona Porta Nuova has 4 storeys: the basement is occupied by Ferrovie dello Stato offices; the ground floor consists of Trenitalia's large ticket hall and travel information room, ÖBB (Austrian State Railways) ticket office, Italo NTV customer service booth, a bookstore, several commercial stores, a newsagent, left luggage facility, bars and washroom facilities; the platform level is used for passenger services and a police station at the end of Platform 1; the first and second floor are occupied by rail offices.

Bologna (, UK also , Italian: [boˈloɲɲa] ; Bolognese: Bulåggna [buˈlʌɲːa]; Latin: Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, at the heart of a metropolitan area of about one million people. Of Etruscan origin, the city has been a major urban centre for centuries, first under the Etruscans, then under the Romans (Bononia), then again in the Middle Ages, as a free municipality and signoria, when it was among the largest European cities by population. Famous for its towers, churches and lengthy porticoes, Bologna has a well-preserved historical centre, thanks to a careful restoration and conservation policy which began at the end of the 1970s. Home to the oldest university in the world, the University of Bologna, established in AD 1088, the city has a large student population that gives it a cosmopolitan character. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, a UNESCO "City of Music" and became part of the Creative Cities Network.Bologna is an important agricultural, industrial, financial and transport hub, where many large mechanical, electronic and food companies have their headquarters as well as one of the largest permanent trade fairs in Europe. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index (E-REGI) of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city and the 47th European city in terms of its economic growth rate. As a consequence, Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country: in 2011 it ranked 1st out of 107 Italian cities.

Verona ( və-ROH-nə, Italian: [veˈroːna] ; Venetian: Verona or Veròna; historical German: Bern, Welschbern, or Dietrichsbern) is a city on the Adige river in Veneto, Italy, with 258,108 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third largest in northeast Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km2 (550.58 sq mi) and has a population of 714,274 inhabitants. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy because of its artistic heritage and several annual fairs, shows, and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, an ancient Roman amphitheater. Two of William Shakespeare's plays are set in Verona: Romeo and Juliet and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. It is unknown if Shakespeare ever visited Verona or Italy, but his plays have lured many visitors to Verona and surrounding cities. The city has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture.