Veronica Franco: Courtesan and Poet in the 16th-Century Venice, born in 1546

Veronica Franco:Courtesan and Poet in the 16th-Century Venice, born in 1546 .

Veronica Franco (commonly called, according to the custom of the time, with the feminine declination of the first name: Franca), is best depicted in Tintoretto’s canvases as a typical Renaissance beauty: round face, dark eyes, and blond hair braided around her head, wrapped in sumptuous period clothing.

Venice in the 16th century was a multicultural city with about 150,000 inhabitants but the freedom granted to women was limited.

There were either married women who enjoyed a greater (at least formal) guarantee of protection in their legitimacy status, courtesans and prostitutes.

Courtesans moved between flattery and contempt, acceptance and repudiation.

Between 1560 and 1562, Veronica seemed to embrace the legitimacy and the condition of a wife and married a doctor named Paolo Panizza, but the marriage ended very soon.

It was her mother who initiated her into the profession of courtesan, which she herself practiced in her youth.

The term courtesan indicates a cultured, refined and elegant woman, able to accompany noble men, but also rewarded for her services.

Veronica, however, did not easily adapt to her mother’s choice, but she could not do otherwise and this career allowed her to enter a world rich in cultural stimuli, where she would have the opportunity to meet important characters, fundamental to her future role as a poet.

Dominic Venier, an illustrious poet became her protector.

Veronica soon becomes famous in Venice and not only for her beauty. She could act, dance and sing and write lyrics.

Moved to the palace of Santa Maria Formosa, Veronica Franco made her house a place of culture where she invited musicians, painters and nobles.

The guests were entertained by readings, music and philosophical discussions, whilst enjoying more earthly delights in the same time.

Veronica had a long list of Venetian and foreign lovers, as Henri of Valois, the future king of France.

Veronica was forced to leave the city in 1575 during a plague pandemic and lost all her wealth and possessions.

On her return in 1577 she was charged for witchcraft by the Inquisition, a crime commonly lodged against the courtesans in those days.

Her charges were however dropped, presumably due to her connections among the Venetian nobility.

Her later life is largely obscure and although she won her freedom, she died in poverty.