Romeo and Juliet is a universal story. The impossible love between two young lovers from opposing families is a theme that has been found in every era, every culture, every latitude... At the very end of the 16th century, Shakespeare seized on this classic theme inspired directly by an Italian romance written by Luigi da Porto in 1530 to write the drama Romeo and Juliet, and turn it into the masterpiece we know today. Since then, the story has been retold and reworked many times. Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi is one of the many adaptations of the story of Romeo and Juliet.