I brought Romeo and Juliet with me because my mother wanted to visit Verona. I bought the Arden edition because people online said it was the best, although I didn’t read any of the introduction and ignored most of the footnotes.
By the Portoni della Bra there is a bust of Shakespeare next to a marble plaque which reads:
“THERE IS NO WORLD WITHOVT VERONA WALLS,
BVT PVRGATORY, TORTVRE, HELL ITSELF.
HENCE BANISHED IS BANISH’D FROM THE WORLD,
AND WORLD’S EXILE IS DEATH: ….”
“NON ESISTE MONDO FVOR DALLE MVRA DI VERONA;
MA SOLO PVRGATORIO, TORTVRA, INFERNO.
CHI E BANDITO DI QVI E BANDITO DAL MONDO
E L’ESILIO DAL MONDO E MORTE; ….”
(SHAKESPEARE, “ROMEO AND JVLIET”, ATTO III, SCENA III)