0:00:04 > 0:00:06Welcome to Italy.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Shakespeare's Italy.
0:00:12 > 0:00:18400 years ago, this was the place William Shakespeare dreamt about.
0:00:18 > 0:00:24'To him, Italy was a country of romance,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26'beauty
0:00:26 > 0:00:28'and mystery.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33'Once it was the centre of the Roman empire,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37'and, in Shakespeare's time, the heart of the Renaissance.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45'Italy set the fashion for the western world.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49'In art and poetry, music and manners,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54'clothes and even perfume. And, of course,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56'politics and power.'
0:01:05 > 0:01:09No wonder William Shakespeare was so fascinated with Italy.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Our Italian cities were like exotic stage sets,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17perfect for the most colourful stories.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29There's hardly a play without a mention of Italy.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33And he set more than a third of them here.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38O, Romeo. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?
0:01:38 > 0:01:42If you prick us, do we not bleed?
0:01:42 > 0:01:49I would rather hear a dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me!
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Did my heart love till now?
0:01:51 > 0:01:54We Italians love Shakespeare.
0:01:54 > 0:02:01Somehow this Englishman managed to capture the true essence of us Italians -
0:02:01 > 0:02:04how we speak, how we behave and how we love.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10He taught you how to love through the stories he told about us.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59'Venice. The most romantic place in the world.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04'And a favourite setting for the plays of William Shakespeare.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12'This has been the home of my family since before Shakespeare's time.'
0:03:13 > 0:03:18"Venezia, Venezia. Chi non ti vede, non ti prezia."
0:03:18 > 0:03:23"Venice, Venice. Only those who don't see you don't value you."
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The words of Shakespeare himself,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30quoting an Italian proverb in Italian.
0:03:35 > 0:03:41Shakespeare painted a picture of Italy as the Land of Love.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49It became a favourite destination for the fashionable Elizabethans.
0:03:49 > 0:03:56That English love affair with my country is as passionate today as ever.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06With a good ship and a fair wind, it could take just four weeks
0:04:06 > 0:04:09to travel from London to Italy.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25And what about Shakespeare? Did he ever come here? This is the most tantalising question.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Is it so crazy to think that he was in Italy?
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Because, in 1585,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33at the age of 21,
0:04:33 > 0:04:38Shakespeare just vanishes from history for seven long years.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43No one knows what he was doing. No one knows where he was.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Shakespeare scholars call this time his "lost years".
0:04:52 > 0:04:57'Shakespeare seems to know everything there is to know about Venice.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00'Of course, he knew about gondolas.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07'He knew the Rialto was where merchants did business.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16'He appreciated that we Venetians make excellent maps
0:05:16 > 0:05:18'and sea charts.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23'He knew a traditional gift here is a dish of doves.
0:05:24 > 0:05:32'And that our favourite Venetian saying is, "Sano come il pesce." As healthy as a fish.
0:05:35 > 0:05:42'He even knew about the boats connecting Venice with the mainland, the traghetti.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46'So how could he know so much about us?
0:05:52 > 0:05:58'Historian Alberto Toso Fei is a Venetian expert on Shakespeare.'
0:07:03 > 0:07:07'It's nice to imagine that William Shakespeare came here.
0:07:07 > 0:07:13'The buildings, the canals, the flavour of the place is so much the same as in his time
0:07:13 > 0:07:17'that it's easy to feel it's possible.'
0:07:27 > 0:07:33'I learned about Shakespeare when I was at school and he's stayed with me ever since.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39'I think it was Shakespeare who taught me everything about the art of love.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43'Well, almost everything.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49'Young love.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51'Tragic love.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54'Triumphant love!
0:07:54 > 0:07:57'How to be a true lover.'
0:08:02 > 0:08:06But Shakespeare didn't start out like this.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12He seems to have had all the arrogance of a young man in a hurry.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Do you marry with your heart or with your head?
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Shakespeare seemed sure you should marry first for money
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and worry about love later.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28'So what about Shakespeare in love?
0:08:28 > 0:08:31'Well, he married at just 18.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34'His wife, Anne, was much older.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39'She was a farmer's daughter and she came with a generous dowry.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02'This is the ancient university town of Padua,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05'for centuries the scene of young romance,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07'of student love.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18'It is the set of Shakespeare's first Italian play and it set a pattern.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23'First, look around for inspiration and see what's already been written.'
0:09:27 > 0:09:34The romantic story The Taming of The Shrew was "borrowed" from an Italian play
0:09:34 > 0:09:38written some years before by Ludovico Ariosto.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41His version was set in Ferrara,
0:09:41 > 0:09:47but Shakespeare chose to move it to the learned atmosphere of Padua.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53'But it wasn't enough. So next he went further back in history
0:09:53 > 0:09:56'to find ideas he could play with.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03'He set about studying our thinkers and philosophers.
0:10:04 > 0:10:10'For Shakespeare, Italy was like an intellectual treasure trove.'
0:10:11 > 0:10:16In our modern world, we have hundreds of "How To" books.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21How to lose weight, how to get over a nervous breakdown,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25how to be successful in life. We think it is a new thing.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Far from it.
0:10:27 > 0:10:33Self-help books were already huge in 16th-century Italy
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and long before.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43The founding father of all guide books to life
0:10:43 > 0:10:47was one of our greatest Roman poets - Ovid.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52De Arte Amandi - The Art of Love.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58'Written around the year 1BC,
0:10:58 > 0:11:03'it was still one of the most popular books in Shakespeare's day.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10'This is a precious edition from 1526.'
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Book One.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17How To Get Her.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23"Dress well, have a good haircut, remember her birthday
0:11:23 > 0:11:26"and promise her the Earth."
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Book Two. How To Keep Her.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35"Never ask how old she is, win over her servants,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39"let her miss you, but not for too long."
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Book Three is for le donne.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45"Learn music and dance, put on makeup,
0:11:45 > 0:11:52"but not when he's looking. Try a mix of younger and older lovers." Nice.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58"Don't leave out seductive coos and delightful murmuring.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04- "And when you like it, show it with panting breaths." Very nice.- Ssh!
0:12:10 > 0:12:17'In The Taming of The Shrew, Shakespeare updates Ovid for the modern audience.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21'Some jokes for his female fans
0:12:21 > 0:12:26'and lots of jokes for the young Elizabethan men about town.'
0:12:28 > 0:12:34There are two young couples in the play - Hortensio and Bianca, in love in the traditional fashion,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37and Petruchio, the hero,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40and Katherina, the shrew.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Shrew, by the way, didn't mean an old woman,
0:12:43 > 0:12:48but a headstrong, difficult young woman.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56This is courtship without love.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Petruchio is after Katherina just for her money.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05And these are the rules of the game, according to Shakespeare.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Don't ask her to marry you. Just tell her the wedding date.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Don't make it to the church on time. Be late, very late.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25So even if she hates you, she will love you when you arrive.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Even if she means no, she say yes.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45Back home, beat your servants so she'll see you're the boss.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Bamboozle her until she'll say and do anything you order.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05If needs be, starve her.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Promise her favours, then withhold them.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24Of course, this couple is nothing like Petruchio and Katherina.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Look at them. They really love each other.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34But Shakespeare is saying to us these are the new dos and don'ts of love.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36He's even saying marry for money.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41Whatever she's like, get her money and make her obey you.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47This is the work of a young man who has never fallen in love.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51GUESTS CHEER
0:14:56 > 0:15:03'It was after his wife gave birth to twins that Shakespeare vanishes from history.
0:15:04 > 0:15:11'The so-called seven lost years when maybe he was here in Italy getting away from it all.'
0:15:15 > 0:15:20After the lost years, Shakespeare reappears in London.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24It's 1592. He's newly and passionately in love.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26But who was she?
0:15:26 > 0:15:31Most scholars believe she was Italian, of course.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36And her family came from just a few miles away from here.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44'This is Bassano del Grappa,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47'ancestral home of Emilia Bassano,
0:15:47 > 0:15:54'a child of professional musicians who came to London in the 16th century.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00'Shakespeare celebrates his great love for her in his sonnets.'
0:16:02 > 0:16:04He describes her
0:16:04 > 0:16:09as a beautiful lady with dark hair and raven black eyes.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14We know her today as La Dama in Nero.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25'Still musical, the Bassano family survives today,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28'but scattered around the world.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32'Peter Bassano is an English brass player and conductor.'
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Hi, Francesco. Good to see you. How are you?
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Food, wine - brilliant. Generally, terribile!
0:16:42 > 0:16:47- Let's try with my terrible English! - What a good idea!
0:16:49 > 0:16:54How can you be so sure that Emilia was the Dark Lady?
0:16:54 > 0:17:00Shakespeare paints a portrait in the sonnets of a dark, musical lady
0:17:00 > 0:17:06and Emilia fits all those bills. The timing's right. She was first identified in the early 1970s
0:17:06 > 0:17:13by a very famous historian, who discovered her in the casebooks of a doctor and astrologer,
0:17:13 > 0:17:20Simon Forman. And it was that description that pointed him in the direction of Emilia.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Once you start looking at the plays, there's this whole coincidence.
0:17:24 > 0:17:30There's a Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice, a Bassianus in Titus Andronicus.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35The name Emilia in its various forms comes up five times in the Shakespeare canon.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41So there's something that points in her direction. She's a very good candidate for it.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48- And how did Shakespeare meet Emilia? - Well, nobody knows exactly,
0:17:48 > 0:17:55but Emilia had become a mistress of Henry Carey, who became a patron of Shakespeare's company of actors.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59- Yes, but what about his wife? - Well...
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Poor Anne Hathaway.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Of course, it was a shotgun wedding.
0:18:03 > 0:18:09She was pregnant, she was several years his senior, she was just a farmer's daughter.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14I don't think there was an enormous amount that they had in common.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18He was highly intelligent, highly read. She was an illiterate woman.
0:18:18 > 0:18:24Coming to London, being away from home, he would have been attracted to someone like Emilia,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28who had a striking personality, musical, a poet herself.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32And...I guess he just couldn't help himself.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40How long do you think the affair lasted for?
0:18:40 > 0:18:45Well, I think the physical affair wasn't that long, perhaps 18 months, two years maximum,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49but the emotional affair stayed with Shakespeare for life.
0:18:49 > 0:18:56- She has really stolen his heart. - I think so. And it's wonderful to bring her back home again.
0:19:05 > 0:19:12Of course, the sonnet was invented by us as the Italian language of love.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16The word sonetto means little song.
0:19:16 > 0:19:23And the father of the Italian sonnet was the great 14th-century poet Petrarca.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32'Just an hour away, in the valley of San Giorgio,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35'is where Petrarch wrote some of his greatest poetry.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46'It was Petrarch who inspired Shakespeare to write sonnets
0:19:46 > 0:19:50'and to change the way he wrote his love scenes.'
0:19:58 > 0:20:03It is so tempting to think that Shakespeare came here
0:20:03 > 0:20:06to pay tribute to his favourite poet.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11In a way, this is Shakespeare's true spiritual home
0:20:11 > 0:20:15because whenever he had something really profound to say about love,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18he used the sonnet.
0:20:24 > 0:20:31'Petrarch's great love was Laura. He wrote more than 300 sonnets to her.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37'Each one celebrates love and then mourns love at the same time
0:20:37 > 0:20:43'because Petrarchan love is always unattainable.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52'Lisiero Emma Trentin has looked after Petrarch's house for most of her life.'
0:22:22 > 0:22:27Shakespeare was a different man by the mid-1590s.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29No longer un novellino,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33but a man who has known a passionate love,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38the affair with Emilia. Now he is a master of poetry, too.
0:22:38 > 0:22:44He would experiment by taking the sonnet to new heights.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48And his next work would be a masterpiece.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02'Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in about 1586.
0:23:04 > 0:23:11'But the story of two young lovers tragically separated by their families was already well known,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16'its origins lost in the mist of Italian legend.'
0:23:18 > 0:23:24Are you here to search for your Romeo? An Italian Romeo, no?
0:23:24 > 0:23:28I prefer Spanish. Spanish, not Italian.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35There is Romeos and Juliets everywhere here.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40It's good. I like a city where the heart is king,
0:23:40 > 0:23:45but how much is true? It is a fascinating story.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57It was our great Italian poet, Dante,
0:23:57 > 0:24:02who mentions the Montecchi and the Cappelletti for the first time.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06It is just a name check in his Divine Comedy,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09written in the early 1300s.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14He places them in Purgatorio, Purgatory,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18among the troublesome and feuding families.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23We know that the two families, Montague and Capulet, did exist...
0:24:32 > 0:24:34They say this 14th-century house
0:24:34 > 0:24:37was once the home of the Montecchis,
0:24:37 > 0:24:43the real family which was the inspiration for the Montagues in the play.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Today the house is a restaurant.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Here is Juliet's house, or so they call it.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23They say that if you stand beneath her balcony
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and you make a wish, they come true.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54that I might touch that cheek.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58O, Romeo, Romeo,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02wherefore art thou, Romeo?
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
0:26:07 > 0:26:13Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26This is an invite to the Club of Giulietta. Come with me.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Let's have a look.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Sorry.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It is here, the Club of Giulietta.
0:26:47 > 0:26:48Bye!
0:26:51 > 0:26:59All over the world, people who are unhappy in love write to the Club of Giulietta for advice.
0:29:46 > 0:29:52Shakespeare sets the most passionate meeting of Romeo and Juliet at a traditional masked ball.
0:29:53 > 0:29:59It's a scene charged with romantic intrigue and flirtation.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16When Romeo and Juliet first met,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20Shakespeare used a sonnet to make them speak,
0:30:20 > 0:30:24the Italian language of love as dialogue.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27This is the genius of Shakespeare.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32If I profane with my unworthiest hand
0:30:32 > 0:30:34This holy shrine,
0:30:34 > 0:30:36the gentle fine is this:
0:30:36 > 0:30:39My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
0:30:39 > 0:30:42To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
0:30:48 > 0:30:52For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59Have saints not lips, and holy palmers too?
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!
0:31:06 > 0:31:09They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11Saints do not move,
0:31:11 > 0:31:13though grant for prayers' sake.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Then move not while my prayer's effect I take.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Thus from my lips by yours my sin is purged.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Sin from thy lips?
0:31:29 > 0:31:32O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35You kiss by the book.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43For us Italians,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Romeo and Juliet strikes a special chord.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51It touches the two things at the very heart of our life -
0:31:51 > 0:31:53romantic love and family.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55And when the two collide,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59a love story turns into a tragedy.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09Sicily,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13an island just off the toe of Italy.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17It's part of Italy and yet, in many ways, a different world.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39Today, we love to define artists and writers, put them in a box.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Serious or light-hearted?
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Profound or funny?
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Try doing that with Shakespeare and you are in trouble.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51The man who plumbed the depths of tragedy in Romeo And Juliet
0:32:51 > 0:32:55is also the man who turned his hand to playful comedy.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09Much Ado About Nothing was written in 1598.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15It was the dying years of Elizabeth I's long reign
0:33:15 > 0:33:17and everyone wanted change.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23The court, the government were old and tired.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26England was depressed.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29Poverty stalked the land.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Plague had made its mark on every family
0:33:35 > 0:33:37and unemployment was rising.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40People needed cheering up.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47CRACK OF THUNDER
0:33:52 > 0:33:58'A famous English actress and a friend of mine knows and loves the play.'
0:33:58 > 0:34:01- Hello, darling. - How marvellous to see you in Sicily!
0:34:01 > 0:34:06- What awful weather!- Yeah. Can I stay under your umbrella? - Yes, you can. Absolutely.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Let's go and see the cathedral.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19'Emma Thompson played Beatrice in the movie of Much Ado About Nothing.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28'Much Ado is set in late 16th century Sicily.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33'Sicilians had grown rich through trade.'
0:34:33 > 0:34:35Grazie a lei.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42'At the time, the capital, Palermo,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46'was a place of great palaces and big money.'
0:34:51 > 0:34:55- Oh, look at this! - I love the colours.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00'As usual, Shakespeare steals from Italian literature -
0:35:00 > 0:35:03- 'Il Cortegiano - The Courtier...' - That's nice.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08'A best-selling guide to etiquette and aristocratic living.'
0:35:08 > 0:35:13He's very dark, what he's wearing. Has he been to a funeral, do you suppose?
0:35:13 > 0:35:18I think they did wear very dark clothes. Men, in particular.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21- He has a very refined face. - Yeah, very.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25- Fiero.- Yeah, proud.- Yeah.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Yeah. Yeah, he is. He's quite important.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Or at least he thinks he is.
0:35:38 > 0:35:44In a sense, I suppose, Shakespeare invented the romantic comedy with Much Ado.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49You know, romantic comedies, we're so used to them - When Harry Met Sally,
0:35:49 > 0:35:55Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, where you have two people who are at each other's throats,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58but you know they're going to end up in love.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02They must start by hating each other or by being very in conflict.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05That's the journey of all romantic comedies
0:36:05 > 0:36:09and in a sense, Beatrice and Benedic were the first ones.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14This relationship becomes very clear in "My dear Lady Disdain..."
0:36:14 > 0:36:16Hang on.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21That book that you gave me which has got it in the Italian as well...
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Hang on. Oh, there we go. I've found it.
0:36:25 > 0:36:32Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?
0:36:32 > 0:36:37Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54SHE LAUGHS It's great in Italian.
0:36:58 > 0:37:04Then it comes to this bit, "I'd rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07which you can play in two different ways.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12If she's a young woman, you can say, "I don't want to hear men swear they love me,"
0:37:12 > 0:37:17and that could be someone who's 19 saying, "It's so boring. Boys, boys, boys!"
0:37:17 > 0:37:21It could be that, but it could be an older woman saying...
0:37:22 > 0:37:24"I have heard it so many times.
0:37:24 > 0:37:31"I would rather hear a dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me!
0:37:31 > 0:37:34It could have an anger to it, a bitterness to it.
0:37:34 > 0:37:40It can be played in so many different ways, which is why, of course, it's great writing.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48'It's still raining, but there is a man across town
0:37:48 > 0:37:52'who doesn't need sunshine to recreate the sparkle of Much Ado.'
0:37:52 > 0:37:55CRACK OF THUNDER Crikey!
0:37:56 > 0:38:04'We are on our way to see Professor Gabriele Arezzo di Trifiletti, a theatrical historian.'
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Francesco da Mosto ed Emma Thompson.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16It's strange. It doesn't look like a museum. It's a flat.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22"Professor Gabriele Arezzo di Trifiletti."
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Allora, look!
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Francesco, look!
0:38:35 > 0:38:36Amazing!
0:38:37 > 0:38:40And this is just the hall.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Incredible.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Look, look, look. Butterflies.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49And it's all original.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Don't touch it!
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Si. Tesoro.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26So beautiful.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28EMMA THOMPSON:
0:39:34 > 0:39:36And there's a line in...
0:39:42 > 0:39:47She says, "It's like the dress I saw the Duchess of Milan wearing."
0:39:47 > 0:39:49TRANSLATES INTO ITALIAN
0:39:51 > 0:39:56So what kind of materials was she talking about?
0:40:14 > 0:40:18Wait, wait, wait. He's talking about the temperature.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22They didn't have velvet, they didn't have wool,
0:40:22 > 0:40:26but they were having lighter things like "damasco".
0:40:31 > 0:40:35Ah, siciliano. Oh, how beautiful that is!
0:40:37 > 0:40:42I think that's one of the most beautiful pieces of lace I've ever seen
0:40:42 > 0:40:46because it's so simple and it's not overdone.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49It's just exquisite, isn't it?
0:40:53 > 0:40:55That's Sicilia as well.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59They favoured a much simpler style.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01Hello.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04Beautiful.
0:41:10 > 0:41:11Messaggio.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34LAUGHTER
0:41:34 > 0:41:36- Maybe I can.- I might...- I might be.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38I might consider it!
0:41:43 > 0:41:45Don't even think about it.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Practise your fan language while I bung this on.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08Of course, you know, Shakespeare uses masks often.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11I wonder if he ever saw something like that?
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Give me the fan. I'm going to talk to you.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17FRANCESCO LAUGHS
0:42:17 > 0:42:20No, no, no. I might... ALL LAUGH
0:42:28 > 0:42:34It's nearly the end, but this is one of my favourite bits because it's terribly funny.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39Hang on a minute. Wait, wait. It's stopped raining. Put the brolly down
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Of course it's stopped. We've come to the end of the day.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47This is where... I love this because it's very Shakespearean.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52They are saying they love each other, but they're saying it in a funny way, so you say that bit.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Very ill.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Very ill too.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11Then Ursula comes and says everything's all right, you've got to come to your uncle's.
0:43:11 > 0:43:18"Will you come presently?" And she goes off. And I say, "Will you go hear this news, signior?" You say...
0:43:26 > 0:43:29LAUGHTER Let's go to our uncle's!
0:43:38 > 0:43:42And as soon as Emma has gone, the sun comes out.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Cosi e la vita.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52- Buon giorno.- Buon giorno.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58Before I leave Sicily, I need to make one more trip.
0:43:58 > 0:44:04We know some people believe Shakespeare came to Italy during his lost years,
0:44:04 > 0:44:09but here in Sicily, things get even stranger.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11They believe he was Italian.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21I'm on my way to the town Sicilians claim is Shakespeare's birthplace.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27Local legend has it that in 1588,
0:44:27 > 0:44:33a 24-year-old Sicilian emigrated to England where he became a successful playwright.
0:44:35 > 0:44:41His name was Crollalanza. The clue is all in the name.
0:44:58 > 0:45:03This is Messina, birthplace of Crollalanza.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13Messina is a town determined to reinvent history
0:45:13 > 0:45:16and claim the bard for Sicily.
0:46:07 > 0:46:14Local journalist Fabio Bagnasco believes we shouldn't dismiss this weird idea altogether.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02I'll never go as far as claiming Shakespeare was Italian,
0:48:02 > 0:48:07but he definitely had an Italian sensibility.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12And it shows more than ever in his greatest and most tragic love story.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29The setting, of course, is Venice.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Back in Shakespeare's time,
0:48:33 > 0:48:39this city had the most exciting mix of cultures in all the western world.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45Venice was the meeting point between east and west.
0:48:45 > 0:48:50We were a city where trade was king, not religion.
0:48:50 > 0:48:56Here, the Christian world made business with the Islamic world.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59This was the most cosmopolitan society in the 16th century.
0:49:04 > 0:49:09The figure of Othello, the Moor of Venice, may seem like an outsider,
0:49:09 > 0:49:14but this passionate character is the most Italian of anyone in Shakespeare.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26As usual, Shakespeare stole the story from Italian literature.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38Hecatommithi is a collection of novellas by Cinthio.
0:49:38 > 0:49:44It tells the story of a sea captain driven to murder his great love Desdemona
0:49:44 > 0:49:46in a fit of jealousy.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54CRACK OF THUNDER
0:49:56 > 0:50:00In Othello, Shakespeare goes deeper into the psyche of Venice,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04allowing him to explore sexual obsession
0:50:04 > 0:50:08in all its paradoxes and confusion.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Shakespeare was 40 years old when he wrote Othello.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21He lived away from his wife.
0:50:21 > 0:50:27Like most professional men, he probably enjoyed the attentions of a mistress or two
0:50:27 > 0:50:31or as we prefer to call them in Venice, a courtesan.
0:50:34 > 0:50:40In the Correr Museum, there is an intriguing survival from Shakespeare's time.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03This is a directory of the most important courtesans in Venice.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07It tells you how much money a gentleman had to pay -
0:51:07 > 0:51:11"per intrar nella sua gratia" - to enter in their graces.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Their names, their addresses.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20And even how much money you have to spend -
0:51:20 > 0:51:236, 2, 8...
0:51:24 > 0:51:30It's quite interesting. There were hundreds of copies of this directory circulating in Venice
0:51:30 > 0:51:35in the middle of the 16th century for eager visitors to the city.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38And this is the only copy left today.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46THUNDER RUMBLES
0:51:50 > 0:51:56The Doge's Palace is the setting for one of the most agonising scenes in the play.
0:52:01 > 0:52:08Lovestruck Othello is summoned to explain how he bewitched Desdemona into marrying him.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15It is the first hint of how cruel this story will be,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19how pure love is corrupted by prejudice.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33THUNDER RUMBLES
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Othello is eloquent. He speaks the language of romance,
0:53:39 > 0:53:41full of music and poetry,
0:53:41 > 0:53:46but jealousy will drag him from the stars to the gutter.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53And his love will turn into murderous rage.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34This is Shakespeare getting deep into the psychology of love,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39the miracle of passion unleashed, but the danger too.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45No wonder Othello gave us one of the greatest operas in the Italian language.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47# Ave Maria
0:54:47 > 0:54:50# Piena di grazia
0:54:50 > 0:54:53# Eletta fra le donne
0:54:53 > 0:54:55# E le vergini sei tu... #
0:54:55 > 0:54:58With a little help from Verdi, of course.
0:54:58 > 0:55:04# Prega per chi adorando
0:55:04 > 0:55:09# A te si prostra
0:55:09 > 0:55:15# Prega nel peccator
0:55:15 > 0:55:22# Per l'innocente
0:55:22 > 0:55:27# E pel debole oppresso
0:55:27 > 0:55:32# E pel possente
0:55:32 > 0:55:37# Misero anch'esso
0:55:38 > 0:55:46# Tua pieta dimostra
0:55:47 > 0:55:55# Prega per chi sotto l'oltraggio piega
0:55:55 > 0:56:02# La fronte e sotto la malvagia sort
0:56:05 > 0:56:08# Prega per noi
0:56:08 > 0:56:13# Prega per noi
0:56:13 > 0:56:18# Prega
0:56:21 > 0:56:29# Ave! #
0:56:29 > 0:56:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:56:34 > 0:56:36- Bravissima!- Grazie.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16Othello is Shakespeare's farewell note to love.
0:57:17 > 0:57:24He shows us how the world conspires to extinguish love.
0:57:24 > 0:57:30Never again would he go so deep into the heart of things.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41Othello is Shakespeare's most troubling exploration of love.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46In Romeo And Juliet, in spite of the lovers' tragic deaths,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49there is a feeling that love lives on,
0:57:49 > 0:57:55that somehow the world is a better place because Romeo and Juliet's love existed.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00In Othello, it is love itself that is murdered.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07As we say in Italian,
0:58:07 > 0:58:11"grande amore, grande dolore".
0:58:12 > 0:58:15"Great love equals great pain."
0:58:17 > 0:58:21Shakespeare could almost have written that himself.
0:59:08 > 0:59:11Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd