Abraham Ortelius, Abraham Ortelius his epitome of the theatre of the worlde, 1603 - p. 73, Padua, Italy.

Description:The province of Italy inhabited by Kate and her sister in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

In The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio’s first words are 'Verona, for awhile I take my leave, to see my friends in Padua’(1.2). The city, south-west of Venice is the home of Katharina and Bianca at the beginning of the play, and during the action a travelling ‘Pedant' from Mantua is warned by Tranio, who wants the traveller to impersonate his father, ‘Of Mantua, sir?... ‘Tis death for anyone in Mantua to come to Padua.’ (4.2) . The habit of travelling 'abroad' is illustrated in The Taming of the Shrew where Vincentio travels from Pisa to visit Lucentio in Padua (4.4), and the Pedant who is persuaded to impersonate Vincentio has travelled ‘from Mantua’ and plans to continue ‘as far as Rome, and so to Tripoli, if God lend me life.’ (4.2).
See: The Taming of the Shrew, 1,2, lines 1-4; 4,2, lines 75-86, and 4,4, lines 56-58.


Full title: Abraham Ortelius his epitome of the theatre of the worlde. Now latlye renewed and augmented. The mappes all newe grauen by Michael Coignet. London, printed for Ieames Shawe, 1603.