What is the significance of the setting of Romeo and Juliet?

The most important thing about the setting of Romeo and Juliet, from a dramaturgical perspective, is the fact that the play takes place in Italy. Shakespeare’s source material is an Italian story, and Italians were thought of as especially passionate in the Elizabethan imagination. In fact, for a writer of that era who wanted to tell a story about hotheaded, violent, passionate, irrational people, the easiest way to make the characters credible would be to set the story in Italy. Elizabethans thought it the perfect place for a story about love at first sight, easily-provoked street brawls, murders for family honor, and passion-driven suicides. The stories about Italy made it seem as though those sorts of things were a daily occurrence. Shakespeare would turn to Italy for many stories about people behaving rashly or violently, not only in this play but also in both comedies and tragedies such as The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice.