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M.O. Nobili engages in a study on the identification of the document containing the Italian historical source of Hamlet, a work that has an incalculable influence on world culture (for Harold Bloom, “After Jesus, Hamlet is the most cited figure in the Western conscience”).Well-established studies have unequivocally clarified that the Italian historical source of the Hamlet (and, in particular, of the recital at court) is the alleged poisoning, through the ears, of the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria I della Rovere, who died on 21 October 1538 (Prof. Geoffrey Bullough [1935, 1978] and Prof. Giorgio Melchiori [1994], also on the basis of a previous study by Elisa Viani [1902]); King Hamlet is equally killed! The Author identifies the written document relating to this Italian story; in fact, the Dramatist states that “The story is extant, and written in very choice Italian” (Hamlet III, ii, 256-257). This document, in the opinion of the Author, is the fine and polished judicial accusatory document (based on the confession of the Duke’s barber), that is the “accusatory procedure prepared by the ministers of Urbino”, by order of Guidobaldo (the murdered Duke’s son); “copy” of this document was sent by one of the two alleged principals, Luigi Gonzaga (letter on April 17th ,1540), together with the promise of some money, to the “divine” Aretino, who was charged with studying such documentation, in his quality of a Luigi Gonzaga’s remunerated defender, in that complex dispute, with considerable media interest. Even John Florio knew this story, which - besides having been, probably, told (or handed down through writings) by his father Michelangelo - is, however, described in the Letters sent by Aretino and in the Letters that Aretino received (which John himself certifies to have read in order to prepare his dictionary of 1598 - See the Appendix I, at the bottom of the study, bibliographic references No. 65 and No. 18).
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