Shakespeare's experiences as a young man in continental Europe, and how that influenced the writing of all his plays set in various European countries outside England
We present here the case and explanation for the reason why, perhaps counter to expectations, the majority of his plays were set in places outside England and Scotland. The majority of his plays were in fact set in continental European countries, namely: Italy, Sicily, Bohemia, Greece, Denmark, Illyria, and the Adriatic coast as well as in France, Vienna, and in what was then called Troy (which is now called Hisarlik) in NW Turkey. We suggest that he was writing in fact from memory years after he had returned from those countries and had returned to England. We therefore concur with recent authors (e.g. RP Roe’s The Shakespeare Guide to Italy, 2011) that Shakespeare spent a period of his life on the Continent
