VIRTUS VERONA 0 v PRO PATRIA 1 - STADIO GAVAGNIN NOCINI - SERIE C - 30th MARCH 2025

Getting there

For a city of only 250,000  Verona has a few teams to choose from and we had opted to stay here based on the current top local team, Hellas Verona being at home to Parma that weekend. Not for the first time, the TV schedulers messed with football fan travel plans and had two weeks prior, placed that fixture for the Monday evening and after our return. No disappointment on our side then when it ended 0-0 but its certainly something to bear in mind for travel plans and having a plan B.

With former Serie A members as recently as 2019, Chievo Verona, now in Serie D after tax problems and subsequent explusion playing away, this left our plan B as Virtus Verona. Mid table in Serie C, Virtus Verona play at Stadio Gavagnin Nocini, a 2 mile uninteresting walk from the centre of Verona. Top tip, enjoy the bars and restaurants in the city and get a cab. For this Sunday afternoon game, they were playing Pro Patria, also mid table and the reverse of a fixture we had seen for an enjoyable Saturday evening game the previous season on the outskirts of Milan. 

Getting in

Virtus use diyticket.it but didn't sell them that way on the day of the game so we bought in the old fashioned after our walk via the ticket booth at the ground for 20 Euro, paying an extra 5 euro for the VIP experience. 

Whats its like

Our VIP status gave us seats in the middle of the single covered stand. It was a good position and right on top of the action but wasnt great on the leg room front. The 2 sided ground also had an open section for away fans of which there were about 30 for this, majority of whom came in after 10 mins.

The game was a bit meh! Two teams cancelling each other out but had it some amusing moments and themes to keep us entertained. A very unfit physio who may have needed assistance himself had he had more to do, a pair of twins playing on opposite sides in the same deep lying midfield position and a suited official who had his own sentry post on the half way line which he never left. Game was settled by a penalty in the first half to the away side and whilst Verona showed some urgency in the second half and greater possession, they had a limited end product. After the game we decided against another  hours uninteresting walk and opted for an Uber back into town to have a go at the meat tower challenge at restaurant SignorVino. Well recommended.