In which city is Romeo and Juliet set?

Romeo and Juliet is set mainly in Verona, a city in northern Italy. The play opens there amid the violent feud between the Montague and Capulet families, and Verona remains the central location for the lovers’ secret marriage, separation, and tragic deaths.

Romeo is briefly sent to Mantua after Prince Escalus banishes him for killing Tybalt. That change of location is why Mantua sometimes appears in summaries of the play, but it is not the principal setting. The action also includes places such as the Capulet household, Friar Laurence’s cell, and the family tomb, all connected with Verona.

Shakespeare inherited the story from earlier Italian and English versions. Matteo Bandello published a version in 1554, while Arthur Brooke retold it in the narrative poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet in 1562. Shakespeare’s play, written in the 1590s, helped make Verona internationally famous as the city of the star-crossed lovers, even though Shakespeare may never have visited Italy.