The Marlowe Society Research Journal-Volume 9-2012 article by Peter Farey is titled, "Did Marlowe Die in Padua in1627?" It runs through the various researchers and articles and some follow-up since the Front Line production. In 1983 Calvin Hoffman did travel to Padua to prove his 30-year campaign that Marlowe escaped England and died in Padua in 1627. His source was from the will of a journalist friend that said a guy named Petro Basconi left papers stating that he knew an English writer named Marlowe, who had to leave England and died in Padua.
In
Much Ado About Something, Michael Rubbo found a letter from Hoffman (1983) that said Washington Irving, US Ambassador to Spain 1842-6, had seen the relevant document. Various people since then have not found a Bosconi or Basconi family in Padua. The name Marlowe did not appear in any records of death in Padua from 1626 to1651. Christian Lanciai stated in the Marlowe Society Newsletter 22 (Spring 2004) that he did find a Merlini who had died in1647 but Dr. Frank Haines wrote in a letter dated 9/3/1985 that common names in Padua are Merlin, Merlo, Marlin, "which nullifies the possibility that they referred to Marlowe (at the time)."
