New Release: Matteo Bandello, Romeo and Juliet: A New English Translation by Michael Curtotti

Matteo Bandello, Romeo and Juliet: A New English Translation by Michael Curtotti. In English only, and English-Italian Parallel Editions.

Everyone knows the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, but few know that almost the entire plot of Shakespeare’s play comes from a story written by the Italian monk Matteo Bandello. Bandello’s  Romeo and Giuletta novella has now been brought back to life in a fresh and modern English translation. 

Michael Curtotti, an Italian Australian writer living in Canberra, says he worked on the new translation to help bring to light the forgotten origins of the play. 

“I watched Shakespeare in Love on a flight to Italy and while it’s a great movie, it’s not the real story,” Michael says.

“Shakespeare’s inspiration wasn’t a woman he met in London, it was an Italian story he knew and loved. Like several other Shakespeare plays, the story behind Romeo and Juliet originally came from Italy. 

“The Romeo and Juliet we know is Bandello’s story, even though he too copied from earlier versions. Just about every plot element in Shakespeare’s play comes from Bandello via a French and English translation of the novella. It’s like loving Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings but not even knowing that J.R.R. Tolkien existed. Today we would recognise Bandello as a co-author.”  

In adapting the story for the stage, Shakespeare uses his own poetic language and enhances it – but we’ve also lost parts of the story. A beautiful monologue from Romeo, when he believes Juliet is dead, didn’t make it into the play.  

With Bandello we hear the words a real Romeo and Juliet might have spoken to each other and we see  their troubles set in a real Verona that Bandello knew personally. 

“Shakespeare’s Verona is kind of abstract but in Bandello’s novella you can actually identify the street where Romeo killed Tybalt. The church where Romeo and Juliet get married is still there,” Michael says. 

Matteo Bandello (1485 – 1561) was a monk, a ‘day job’ which took second place to his passion for writing. His life is as interesting as his stories. He became a refugee in France after endemic war drove him out of Italy. He was appointed bishop of Agen and in the last years of his life he completed his collection of more than 200 stories. Those stories became famous across Europe, but if he hadn’t become a refugee, the world might never have discovered Romeo and Juliet. 

Michael says he hopes his translation provides a fresh take on Romeo and Juliet for fans of the timeless story. 

“Novellas weren’t just stories. Some of them cover issues of gender violence, sexual exploitation or youth mental health. Novellas were the Renaissance equivalent of a movie that could be enjoyed in an afternoon or evening, usually in company with others.” 

Matteo Bandello’s Romeo and Juliet A New English translation by Michael Curtotti  is Available on Amazon and in good booksellers.

A short video interview with Michael about Bandello’s Romeo and Juliet is available at this link. A copy of Matteo Bandello’s Romeo and Juliet, A New English Translation by Michael Curtotti  is available on request and can be accessed at this link. It is also available in a parallel English-Italian edition here.