Veronetta

The guide to Veronetta in Verona opens with today's crowded aperitivo tables and works backward to eighteen oh one, when Napoleon's army split the city and pushed the poor, the soldiers and the Austrians across the river to this bank. It follows the sneering French nickname that stuck to the district, and the barracks, workshops and cheap kitchens that fed a neighborhood the wealthier city center did not want. You'll hear how the arrival of the University of Verona reshaped its osterie into something students, rather than tourists, actually wanted. Look for the red checked tablecloths spilling into the street after dark.