Verona is world-famous for love, for Shakespeare and for its Roman ruins.
But few know that, amid immortal verses and ancient stones, it is also the birthplace of one of the greatest literary adventures of all time.

This narrative walk takes participants on a journey to discover Emilio Salgari, often called “the Italian Verne,” author of Sandokan, The Black Corsair and The Pearl of Labuan: a writer capable of weaving together jungles, distant oceans and revolutionary movements without ever truly leaving Italy. A storyteller who transformed his city into a map of the imagination.

Walking through Verona's historic old town, among squares, libraries, churches, statues and old printing houses, we will discover how everyday places became settings for adventure and how characters who still live on today in books, films and TV series were born here.

The route begins near the Castel San Pietro funicular, close to Ponte Pietra, and continues along the Adige River to Ponte Garibaldi. Here, Verona reveals itself as a city of borders, observation and passages: the ideal setting for recounting an era of scholars, chroniclers and “detectives” of reality, and the rigorous method with which Salgari constructed his imaginary worlds.

Passing through the area of the first printing house of Verona's historic newspaper, we retrace the writer's journalistic beginnings and the birth of his serialized novels, which captivated readers of all ages. The stop at the Church of Sant'Eufemia, where Salgari was baptized, brings the story back to its most intimate origins.

In front of his birthplace on Corso Porta Borsari, which is not open to visitors today, one of Salgari's great paradoxes comes to light: adventure often arises from enclosed spaces, from a desk, from books. Continuing among statues and squares dedicated to poets, patriots and key figures of the Risorgimento, we discover how many of Salgari's characters conceal Italian faces and ideals, transformed into pirates, corsairs and exotic heroes.

The heart of the experience is the Civic Library, Salgari's true “harbor”: the place where he consulted atlases, maps and travelogues, combining imagination, study, method and tireless curiosity.

The walk ends in a historic travel bookstore: the perfect place to reflect on the meaning of travel as a desire for discovery and to understand how, for Salgari, adventure could set sail even while staying put.

This is not a traditional guided visit.
It is a storywalking experience, where the city becomes a story and walking becomes a way to read Verona with new eyes.