ABSTRACT
The chapter examines two plays in which the city plays a crucial role even though it is not used as a setting. The first play scrutinised is The Renegado (1624). Even if the action takes place in Tunis, Venice seems to loom over the setting, haunting the city as a ghost. Multicultural and multireligious Venice proves a suitable background to discuss the interaction and fractures between the different religious trends in Christianity, and the emergence of Arminianism in Stuart England. The second play is Believe As You List (1631), a tragedy which is particularly relevant since its first version had scenes set in Venice and Florence. The chapter discusses how the Italian locations are not fully erased but somehow influence our reading of the new setting.
