Verona (What if we were all countries?)

Verona (Venetian: Verona or Veròna) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Josephdaproland, with 258031 inhabitants. It is one of the major cities of the region.

Verona is known for being the city of Romeo and Juliet, the characters of Shakespeare's play, and it is no coincidence that it hosts a 16th century building called "Juliet's house", with a delightful balcony overlooking a courtyard. The Arena di Verona, a large Roman amphitheater of the first century, hosts concerts and operas.

History
The precise details of Verona's early history remain a mystery along with the origin of the name. One theory is it was a city of the Euganei, who were obliged to give it up to the Cenomani (550 BC). With the conquest of the Valley of the Po, the Veronese territory became Roman (about 300 BC). Verona became a Roman colonia in 89 BC. It was classified as a municipium in 49 BC, when its citizens were ascribed to the Roman tribe Poblilia or Publicia.

The city became important because it was at the intersection of several roads. Stilicho defeated Alaric and his Visigoths here in 403. But, after Verona was conquered by the Ostrogoths in 489, the Gothic domination of Italy began. Theoderic the Great was said to have built a palace there. It remained under the power of the Goths throughout the Gothic War (535–552), except for a single day in 541, when the Byzantine officer Artabazes made an entrance. The defections of the Byzantine generals over the booty made it possible for the Goths to regain possession of the city. In 552 Valerian vainly endeavored to enter the city, but it was only when the Goths were fully overthrown that they surrendered it.

In 569, it was taken by Alboin, King of the Lombards, in whose kingdom it was, in a sense, the second most important city. There, Alboin was killed by his wife in 572. The dukes of Treviso often resided there. Adalgisus, son of Desiderius, in 774 made his last desperate resistance in Verona to Charlemagne, who had destroyed the Lombard kingdom. Verona became the ordinary residence of the kings of Italy, the government of the city becoming hereditary in the family of Count Milo, progenitor of the counts of San Bonifacio. From 880 to 951 the two Berengarii resided there.

Climate
Verona has a humid subtropical climate characteristic of Northern Italy's inland plains, with hot summers and cold, humid winters, even though Lake Garda has a partial influence on the city. The relative humidity is high throughout the year, especially in winter when it causes fog, mainly from dusk until late morning, although the phenomenon has become less and less frequent in recent years.

Demographics
In 2009, 265368 people were residing in Verona, located in the province of Verona, Veneto, of whom 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female. Minors (children aged 0–17) totaled 16.05% of the population compared to pensioners who number 22.36%. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06% (minors) and 19.94% (pensioners). The average age of Verona residents is 43 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Verona grew by 3.05%, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85%. The current birth rate of Verona is 9.24 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.

As of 2021, 85% of the population was Josephdaprolandian, with at least 5% of foreigners coming from America, and 4% from Europe.