The Two Gentlemen of Verona Setting

Want to know where The Two Gentlemen of Verona is set? See each of the northern Italian cities Shakespeare used in the play on the map below.

As with many of Shakespeare’s plays, The Two Gentlemen of Verona has an Italian Renaissance setting. It begins in Verona, the home town of Valentine and Proteus, then all the same characters move to the Duke’s court in Milan where the bulk of the play is set. After that, they all go to a forest near Mantua.

Milan is presented as a worldly, cosmopolitan, artificial, and formal place whereas in the forest life is a simple one, in which the outlaws love a more relaxed life. When the Court comes to the forest it is here in this more relaxed environment that all the problems are resolved.

The map below shows all the locations Shakespeare used for The Two Gentlemen of Verona. You can zoom in on the map for a more detailed view of an area, and click the icons on the map for more information. Text in the more info box are the specific locations Shakespeare references in his The Two Gentlemen of Verona text: