Shakespeare's Italy: Verona, Padua and Venice

Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona, and its best-known moment is the "balcony scene": Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet at her window vowing her love. Shakespeare's text has no balcony at all, only a window. The medieval house on Via Cappello that carries her name is the city's most visited monument, though it was wrongly linked to the Capulet family. A bronze statue of Juliet has stood in its courtyard since 1 June 1973.

Location precision: The identification with the Capulet family is a later mistake; the house is a medieval building with no proven link to the play.

Visitor guidance: The house is on Via Cappello in central Verona.

The play ends in the Capulet tomb, where the feuding families and the Prince meet to find all three young people dead. In Verona, the place visitors are shown is an old stone sarcophagus inside the former convent of San Francesco al Corso of the Capuchin friars, passed off by fancy as the tomb of Juliet Capulet. It is a tradition rather than history, but it gives the tragedy's last scene a spot on the map.

Location precision: Nothing connects the sarcophagus to a real Juliet; it is a traditional identification.

Visitor guidance: The sarcophagus is in the former convent of San Francesco al Corso; check opening hours before going.

In The Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio has recently come to Padua to attend university, while Baptista Minola is a lord of the city. The play never names a college, so the pin marks the University of Padua generally. Galileo once taught there, and the university houses the world's oldest anatomical theatre, dated 1594.

Location precision: The play names only the city; the pin marks the University of Padua's historic seat.

Visitor guidance: The historic university buildings can be visited on guided tours; check the university site.

In The Merchant of Venice the Rialto is where business is done. "What news on the Rialto?" Shylock asks, and he reminds Antonio: "In the Rialto you have rated me." Antonio, the wealthy merchant of the title, is the man Shylock says has berated him there. The present stone bridge, the oldest of the four crossing the Grand Canal, was built in 1588–1591, and its covered ramps still carry rows of shops.

Location precision: The play names the Rialto, the commercial district; the pin marks the Rialto Bridge.

Visitor guidance: The bridge is open to walk across.

Bassanio turns to the Jewish moneylender Shylock for a loan, naming Antonio as guarantor. Venetian Jews had to live in a ghetto, instituted on 29 March 1516, whose gates were opened each morning at the ringing of the marangona bell. The play never names the ghetto, but it is the district tied to Shylock's world. In 2016 the play was performed in the Ghetto's main square.

Location precision: The play never says where Shylock lives; the pin marks the Ghetto Nuovo, the historic Jewish quarter.

Visitor guidance: The Ghetto is in Cannaregio.