Possible but not Proven
Dear Friend,
A letter appears on the web site you maintain http://www.endex.com/gf/shkspr/shlt042000.htm The author of that letter to the Times (Professor Emeritus G. H. McWilliam) is presumably perfectly correct in his assertions in relation to Shakespeare as he clearly knows his stuff.
The arguments he presents on the inaccuracy (of Shakespearean descriptions in his plays) concerning non existent maritime links to Milan, Verona and Padua however are not at all so. All three important cities were then well connected to the Adriatic sea by efficient waterways. Milan was moreover up to the 1960s the busiest inland port by tonnage in Italy and it is certainly still possible to reach the sea using the Darsena at Porta Ticinese then the Naviglio Pavese route via the Po to the sea. During the Dukedom of Gian Galeazzo Visconti the Red Cross of Milan was also applied to Genoese ships then under the Duke's control.
I recollect reading in Casanova's History of his Life (Vol I) how he regularly travelled to Padua by ship to attend School and University from his native Venice. You can still do so now!
At Verona the Adige River was used as part of the Quadrilateral (Peschiera, Mantova, Verona and Legnago) by the Imperial Royal forces of Austria Hungary up to 1859 to move troops and ordnance rapidly as needed. As for the word "tide" it could presumably also be used for "time" ("time and tide")...in the period concerned; indeed my Danish friends still use it with that meaning!
Far from being undermined in his Maritime knowledge of continental Italy, Shakespeare shows us he knew a thing or two about this...things that have possibly been overlooked by some of the Bard's Academic friends.
Until there is more convincing evidence on the man (from Stratford?) the doubt will still be there as to William Shakespeare true origins and generalities. Speculation will continue; but in my view if Caccialanza/Crollalanza is such a common name in Italy and there are other possible interpretations then we must still keep an open mind on the subject of his origin and identity but not of his genius!
Sincerely yours,
Roberto Franceschini.
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