The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics set us to thinking about Shakespeare and Italy. Shakespeare’s plays are well stocked with merchants of Venice, gentlemen of Verona, and other Italian characters. Below from the website of the Folger Shakespeare Library are the highlights of an interview with Graham Holderness, author of Shakespeare and Venice and professor of English emerita at the University of Hertfordshire in England, about Shakespeare’s Italy:
https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/shakespeare-italy
