Background
The Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti ("Newly-discovered story of two noble lovers") was composed in 1524 and enjoyed great popularity. Taking his plot, with its folklore theme of the potion causing apparent death, from a tale by Masuccio Salernitano, Da Porto made Verona the scene, and adopted from Dante's Purgatorio the names Montecchi and Cappelletti (Montagues and Capulets) for the warring families. Matteo Bandello rewrote the story (1554), and his version was translated into French with minor changes by Boaistuau (1559). This version in turn inspired Arthur Brooke's Tragical history of Romeus and Juliet (1562), which was Shakespeare's principal source for Romeo and Juliet.