WHAT do Worcester and the Italian city of Verona have in common?

Believe it or not, the answer is music festivals, cathedrals, a famous bard and rivers that seem to go on forever.

Members of the City of Worcester Twinning Association also hope that, before long, the two cities will have both signed a friendship pact to celebrate their shared interests.

The association's chairman, Nevill Swanson, secured an agreement for the link during a recent visit to Verona after a plan to twin the two cities was rejected.

Mr Swanson said: "I went to see them earlier this month and they said, We've got the best part of a dozen twins already so we don't want any more but we are quite happy to have a friendship pact'.

"Both cities have got very long and strong musical traditions. They've got this amazing arena for open air opera and we've got the longest continuous existing choral festival in the world, the Three Choirs.

"They have had two plays written about them by William Shakespeare and we have got Shakespeare's marriage papers in the archives at Spetchley."

Worcester also has the longest river in Britain, while Verona boasts the second longest river in Italy. Worcester Mayor Stephen Inman, who announced the pact at a meeting of the city council, said he had written to the Mayor of Verona pointing out the similarities between the cities.

He said: "Verona is obviously a historic cathedral city, which I regard as a top division city in Italy.

"We want to find some good connections with our history, our cathedral and musical traditions."

If the friendship pact is signed, exchanges will be set up between the cities and links established with schools and sporting groups.