Article posted in Italian at: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/3607/Florio.htm
Michael Agnolo (or Michelangelo) Florio (Crollalanza on the maternal side) (born 1564?), of Calvanist religion, lived part of his life evading the religious persecutions at Palermo, in the Eolie islands, at Messina, at Venice, at Verona, at Stratford and at London.
He was author of many tragedies and comedies set in the aforesaid places, demonstrating that he knew them well, as he showed how well he know the Italian language and the Italian theater, and likewise he had a good familiarity with the Italian scene. Some of his recovered work seems to be the original version of well known work attributed to Shakespeare, such as "troppu trafficu pěnnenti," writing in Messinese, that could be the original of "Much ado about Nothing" by Shakespeare, appearing 50 years later.
Running away with his family, he lived for a certain period in Venice, where if seems that his neighbor, an African, killed his own wife over jealousy. On this inspiration he wrote a tragedy: as Sheakespeare subsequently wrote "Othello."
Constantly running away from religious persecution, he arrived in Stratford, where he was the guest of a traveling player and drunkard, perhaps a relative of his mother, who treated him as a son, above all because he reminded him of his own child, William, who had died. The innkeeper began calling him affectionately "William."
At this point it was sufficient to translate into English the last name of his mother (from "Crolla lanza" or "scrolla la lancia" to "shake the speare" or "shake speare") and hence the new last name "Shakespeare." Born as WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, no longer prosecutable as a runaway heretic, but forced to hold the mystery on his true identity and his origins.
Perhaps the innkeeper, his relative, was already a "Crollalanza" who had translated his last name, and by which the lost son, William Shakespeare, had already been named. In the reconstructed biographies, the great playwright will be identified as the third of the eight children of John Shakespeare.
Eventually he came to London from nowhere, without place or date of birth, and powerfully took the stage as playwright and actor, giving birth to curiosity and sensation, that induced him to remain mysterious, so that he not be recognized by his persecutors. That was also the case for the traveling player, who often recited the work of William and to whom also, sometimes, was attributed the paternity of the same work, accentuating the confusion. Facts: from 1603 his name does not show up any more in the list of actors. About 1613 he stops writing for the theater; he dies April 23, 1616.
Unfortunately there is no clear documentation of his activity from 1583 to 1592: the important "missing years." More facts: a) There exists no record of a pupil in the secondary school of Stratford, in which appears the name of William Shakespeare; b) it is known that William Shakespeare frequented a Club in London. In that Club, however, there is no record of him among the patrons, while, instead, a Michelangelo Florio is recorded.
It is known that the limited biography of Shakespeare, compared to the popularity of his theatrical work, has caused many researchers to deny the authenticity of his existence, and he is often suspected of being the front for more famous characters. Of his life, many uncertain reports are known, obscrued more and more by the legendary embellishments that, after time, have built his image.
Giovanni Florio (London ca. 1553- 1625), English humanist of an Italian father and author of an English-Italian dictionary, was certainly known to Shakespeare, who shows clearly in his work, to have known the collection of letters, First Fruits (1578) and Second Fruits (1591), of Giovanni Florio. The difference in age between these two characters, however, excludes that it could be father and child.
In the plays of Shakesperare, five shipwrecks and the use of nautical terms makes one conclude that the writer is an experienced sailor. But did Shakesperare travel to foreign countries? Did he serve in the Navy? No proof exists in this respect. Florio, instead, came from Palermo, Lipari, Messina, and Venice, all seaside cities.
Shakesperare had a rich dictionary. Today an English educated citizen rarely uses more than 4,000 words in conversation. John Milton, English poet of the XVII century, used only about 8,000 words in his work, but an authoritative source attributes to Shakespeare well more than 21,000 words, justifiable if he was an immigrated Italian.
By the way of paternity of the great quantity of work that has been attributed to him, the World Book Encyclopedia observes that people "refuse to believe that an actor of Stratford-on-Avon could have written them. The country origin of Shakespeare didn't correspond to the image of the genius who wrote the plays." And it adds that almost all the other proposed authors "belonged to the nobility or to the upper classes." Therefore many of those people that put in doubt that Shakespeare alone is the author insist that "only an educated man, refined, of socially superior status could have written the plays."
A is known, the father of William, John, was a glover, dealing in wool and perhaps a butcher. He was a respected but illiterate citizen. Instaed, the family of Florio was an illustrious Sicilian family.
Who preserved the manuscripts of Shakespeare? A religious group of the XVIII century controlled all the private libraries within 80 kilometers of Stratford-on-Avon, but only one volume was found that belonged to Shakespeare. The manuscripts of the plays constitute a bigger problem: none of the original manuscripts were preserved. 36 plays were published in the first in-folio of 1623, seven years after the death of Shakespeare. If all the works were in hand of Florio, they could justify the true origin.
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