Since the play is set in Madrid, in the Almendárez household and the surrounding streets, it would normally be classified as an urban comedy. However, mapping each place name that is mentioned reveals that Cervantes takes us on a imaginative journey to some remote corners of his world, including Peru and Africa, as well as to parts of Spain and the Mediterranean, for example places in Rome with which he became familiar when chamberlain to Cardinal Acquaviva in 1570, and areas of Andalucía (most of them noted for the excellence of their wines) that he knew well from the time he spent there as an itinerant tax collector in the 1580s and 1590s. The city is thus contextualized by its relationship to the rest of the world and to the geography of Cervantes’s life.

The results can be seen in this Google Map, together with notes about the places mentioned. The map also includes other relevant geographical data, such as Cervantes’s address at the time of publication of Ocho comedias.