Someone just found this site by Googling the names "ANTONIO CAPULLETTO" and "MARIOTTO MONTECCHIO." Which is flattering, as the only way that person could have gotten those names is by reading my novel.
Because I made them up.
With that in mind, I feel honor-bound to make clear a bit about names and history.
There were Montagues and Capulets, they were real families – Montecchi e Cappelletti. Dante is the most famous person to mention them (PURGATORIO, canto VI), but they are in many histories and period chronicles as well. They actually clashed more in the area of Cremona than Verona, but were so famous for their squabbles (and famously mentioned) that their names became synonyms for "feuding families" – much as Hatfield and McCoy are today.
My only answer as to why so many writers connected them with Verona is that there is a castle and a village between Verona and Vicenza, both called Montecchio. Naturally, one would assume that the Montecchi lived there, no?
Actually, most often period Italian names indicate the place of origin, not the place you currently resided. If I was born in Parma, but lived in Venice, I would be David of Parma. Everybody would know who that was. Then, after a few generations, the name is still there. My son would be Dash of Parma, even though he’d never been to Parma in his life.
Now, there were Montecchi who were intimately involved in Veronese affairs – but that wasn’t the branch of the family famous for fueding. It’s more likely that the Montecchi in Cremona originally came from the village of Montecchio, and were neither the owners of that castle nor the masters of that village.
However, all of that is mere speculation on my part, as my research has been focused on the area around Verona and how to mesh Shakespeare with history. Presupposing that both families lived in Verona, I invented histories to both.
All of which is a long way of saying that Antony and Mari are fictional characters, their names stolen from elsewhere.
Mariotto’s name was taken from the poet Masuccio Salernitano’s 33rd Novel from IL NOVELLINO – an early version of the R&J story.
The name Antonio I borrowed from Luigi da Porto, a native of Vicenza and the first person to name the famous lovers Romeo & Giulietta. In his version he mentions that the young girl’s father is called Antonio.
That’s where those names came from. Instead of working forward from history, I worked backwards from the play, setting Shakespeare’s characters in among the true historical figures. Because, by the time of the novel, most of the Capulets and Montagues had died off, or moved away – notably, to England, where there is a famous family called Montagu.
Which brings the whole thing full circle and is enough to make a grown man weep.
