“Ever a shadow, he disappears, all but utterly, from 1585 to 1592….There is not a more tempting void in literary history, nor more eager hands to fill it” Bill Bryson on Shakespeare.
It is an interesting fact that thirteen of the thirty-seven plays of William Shakespeare were set either completely or partly in Italy and if we rule out the ten English history plays (which naturally have to be set in England) then half of the remainder of the major works are set in the Italian states and no one knows for sure just why.
Have Bag, Will Travel 
See, Andrew, I waited enough time to potentially have read the blog post before hitting the ‘autolike’ button!
And yes, my only trip to Venice we stayed in Padova too. I can’t remember how the logistics worked after that – train, I think.
I never thought Shakespeare’s plays had enough detail about Italy to convince me that he’d been there, And what about that Hamlet – a whole play set in Denmark with no mention of Legoland or designer furniture?
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The book that I am reading (last picture) attempts to deal with the ‘detail’ issue. It is interesting but not convincing.
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I’m with the academics – I really don’t see Shakespeare as an Italian 🙂
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Thanks. Coming from Warwickshire and having lived there I have to believe that he came from Stratford upon Avon
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Good gracious Andrew I had no idea that so many of Shakespeare’s plays were set either completely or partly in Italy.
You go on a trip to Italy the way I go to San Francisco!
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It seems so close now – just a short two hour flight!
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Andrew, as you know by now, I have been to Venice so often in my life that I stopped counting. But hotel prices have gone through the roof and so for the last 10 years we stay at Padova. Now we fly directly to Venice comin from Dubai, go just a very short distance, bue our bus tickets,E7 oo each, and 1/2 hour later after comfortable bus ride we arrive in Padova and take taxi to our hotel right opp. The Cathedral. Day trips from here to Venice by train are easy, comfortable and cheap. Ciao Carina
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I was surprised by Venice hotel prices but so glad that they forced me to Padova which is a city that I will happily return to!
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