How did Shakespeare know so much about Italy?

[Marley23]

Shakespeare’s knowledge of Italy came up in the context of this authorship thread a few months ago. I think this post gives a good overview:

@bup

Here’s a nice essay that covers Shakespeare’s knowledge of history and Italy.
Shakespeare didn’t ever go to Italy, but he didn’t know jack about it, either. He set two entire plays in Venice, without ever using the word canal. He also created a city near Venice called “Belmont.” WTF?

You know who else set plays in Italy? Everybody. It was the place to set comedies.

From the essay bup links to:

Italian culture and literature permeated all of Elizabethan literature and drama (not just Shakespeare) to a much greater extent than anybody realized a century ago; there were many sources, both written and unwritten, which any intelligent Elizabethan could use to find out all about Italy; and many Elizabethans of Shakespeare’s social class, including members of his own acting company, visited Italy. […] Several recent studies have dealt with this question in some detail, and have shown how enamored the English were with all things Italian, how many sources there were for a curious Englishman to find out anything he wanted about Italy, and how Shakespeare got details wrong and sometimes lapsed into English customs in his Italian plays.