“News on the Rialto”: Shakespeare’s Venice

Abstract

Holofernes: I may speak of thee as the traveler doth of Venice:
Venetia, Venetia, Chi non ti vede, non ti pretia.
(Love’s Labour’s Lost 4.2.92-93)1

Shakespeare set thirteen of his plays in Italy. Since he probably never visited the country, he shows only the vaguest notion of the topography of most of his Italian settings. However, the two plays set in Venice are notable exceptions. The Merchant of Venice (composed around 1596- 1597), and Othello, the Moor of Venice (probably written between 1601 and 1603) are not only distinguished by authentic ‘local colour’, but also convey the playwright’s awareness of a certain image of Venice, both as it was presented by Italian historians, and as English visitors recorded their experiences of the city.