Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a renowned Venetian poet and courtesan. She was born in Venice to a courtesan mother and learned the art of being an honored courtesan. Franco was well-educated alongside her brothers and published her own volume of poetry in 1575. She belonged to a prestigious literary circle but faced financial difficulties later in life due to plague and the death of her patron. Franco challenged social norms through her openly erotic poetry and defense of women's independence.

2. •Lived between 1546-
1591
•Mother was Paola
Francassa, a
courtesan
•Only daughter in
family of three sons
•Learned the art of
being a cortigiana
onesta (honored
courtesan) from her
mother by the mid to
late 1550s
•Married Paolo

3. • Well-educated and well-
rounded
•Venetian courtesans known
all over Europe
•Known for their
extravagant/expensive
clothing, layers of
jewelry, and colorful
makeup
•During early 16th
century, there were
approximately 11,654
prostitutes in a city
of about 100,000 people
•courtesan to the elite ‘Dangerous Beauty’
(as a cortigiana onesta)
•Cortigiana onestas

4. •Was educated alongside her
brothers, by tutors
•By 1570s, belonged to
prestigious literary circle
•Published a volume of her
own poetry, Terza Rima, in
1575
•Familiar Letters was
published in 1580 in Venice
•Acts as moralist in many
letters
•Gives advice to male
patron friends and mother
who is thinking about
making her daughter into a
courtesan.

5. •Role as a poet set
her above and apart
from courtesans, even
cortigiani onesta
•Has been tied to King
Henry III, one of her
first published
letters to him and
many historians assert
that they had some
sort of intimate
relationship
King Henry III of France • listed as one of
the foremost
courtesans of Venice
in Il Catalogo di

6. •Virtuous
•Graceful
•Chaste
•Modest/subdued character
•Better that she speak
sparingly
•Does not laugh too
openly or too often
•Does not move hands too
much while speaking
•Inappropriate for her to
initiate sexual
relations

7. •Openly erotic/sexually explicit
•Challenged traditional image of
the female known as a silent,
distant, perhaps cruel and
unattainable woman
• insisted on dialogue
•Ex: Capitolo II
“Cosi dolce e gustevole
divento,
Quando mi trovo con persona
in letto,
Da cui amata e gradita mi
sento,
Che quel mio piacer vince
ogni diletto,
Si che quel, che strettissimo

8. •Could be combative in her
writing
•Defends herself from attempts
to humiliate her
•Stands up for women who are
affronted by men
•Ex: Capitolo 16
“Quando armate ed esperete
ancor siam noi,
Render buon conto a ciascun
uom potemo,
Ché mani e piedi e core avem
qual voi;
E se ben molli e delicate
semo,
Ancor tal uom, ch’é delicato,

9. • brought to the Inquisition
courts in 1580 by Ridolfo
Vannitelli on charges of having
practiced witchcraft
•Freed from her charges after a
defense was presented
•Severely impoverished by the
plague years (1575-77)
•Lost possessions and home
•her faithful patron & friend,
Domenico Venier, died in 1582
•Lost big portion of income
•Tax declaration of 1582 stated
that she was living in a poorer
section of the city
•Died at 45 in 1591

10. •
http://venice11.umwblogs.o
rg/venetian-attire-
similarities-between-
courtesans-and-
aristocratic-women/
• Margaret F. Rosenthal.
The Honest Courtesan:
Veronica Franco, Citizen
and Writer in Sixteenth-
Century Venice (Chicago:
The University of Chicago
Press, 1992),