ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the progressive strengthening of Shakespeare's fame in Italy thanks to the production of a sizeable corpus of translated works in the nineteenth century, which effectively contributed to securing Shakespeare's place within the Italian literary canon. The history of Shakespeare's early reception in Italy is far from straightforward, ranging between the two extremes of pure "bardolatry" on the one hand and quite overt disparagement on the other. Manzoni's legacy in the arena of Shakespeare's reception was taken over by Giulio Carcano, who produced the first complete Italian verse translation of Shakespeare's works. Carcano's translation finds its frame of reference in an Italian Romantic aesthetic and the wider context of the early nineteenth-century reception of Shakespeare, which provides a model for understanding the stylistic features of the text. The early history of Shakespeare's reception in Italy stands out as one of both acceptance and resistance.
