(ANSA) - Palermo, March 25 - Three researchers have claimed
that Sicilian linguist, lexicographer and royal language tutor
John Florio (1553-1625) is the real author of William
Shakespeare's work - a theory that is being turned into a
television show by Italian filmmaker Stefano Reali.
Reali is currently working on the show, which is produced in
Spain.
The three Anglicists - Corrado Panzeri, Saul Gerevini and
Giulia Harding - say Florio fled Messina due to the Inquisition
and travelled to London, where he was hosted by Henry
Wriothesley, the third Count of Southampon together with a young
actor, Will of Stratford, and both lived in the same castle.
The show in production focuses on the theory that Florio used
his father's immense erudition and the protection of the
powerful aristocrat as an author.
It also investigates a meeting between Great Spanish writer
Miguel de Cervantes at a Messina hospital after the author of
Don Quixote had been wounded in the battle of Lepanto against
the Turks.
'Real Shakespeare was Sicilian' - show
'John Florio was real author'