Description

Veronica Franco, poet and sex worker. Franco learnt the profession of a cortigiana onesta from her mother and shared in her brother’s education by a private tutor. By the 1570’s she became involved with one of the most prestigious literary circles in the city. In 1575 she published her first of two volumes of poetry, she also collected works for anthologies and published books of letters. In her poems she celebrated her sexual expertise and defended herself and other women who were verbally and physically abused by men. Her 1580 book Lettere familiari a diversi included letters to Henry III of France and Jacopo Tintoretto, the painter. In 1580 Franco was charged with witchcraft by the inquisition, accused by her son’s tutor, her …