I've taken a couple of art history courses in Rome in previous years. One of the professors there invites former students to an annual "Saturnalia"; the Roman predecessor of Christmas. In Norway, though. When he said costumes were encouraged, and that he himself would dress up as a Roman Catholic cardinal (done with respect), I sat down with two of ( Read more... )

Another funky courtesan name: Cicilia Vintiana di Roma.I've seen different spellings of the name, but in general it means "Venetian Cecilia living in Rome" (Cecilia Venetiana di Roma). This is consistent with earlier examples I've listed - a woman selling her body would usually not do it in the city state where she was born. It might have been ( Read more... )

I visited the Villa Farnesina today, and it was a fantastic experience. Built for filthy rich Agostino Chigi (Kee-djee) as a tribute to both his wealth and to love, it is frescoed beyond words, and would once have a most idyllic placement just across the river, with a garden leading down to the water ( Read more... )

Continuing the research on Italian 16th century prostitutes, I'm currently reading an article called The Chapel of the Courtesan and the Quarrel of the Magdalens by Christopher Witcombe ( Read more... )

...and prostitutes

February 4. 1548
Cosimo I petitions Andrea Doria to free Bernardino Maltacchini d'Arezzo. Ten years earlier he and seven of his fellow soldiers, all serving on Doria's galleys, went ashore in Messina, entered the home of a courtesan, and raped her. All eight were imprisoned for the crime but the others served only two months; ( Read more... )

I've suddenly taken a strange interest in prostitutes of the Italian Renaissance, especially those of Rome. We've all gushed over Venetian courtesan and their chic style, and accomplished upper class courtesans living a life in luxury. On the other end of the scale you got the common prostitutes rambling the streets, in tacky clothes. But there are ( Read more... )

Skip if you're tired of Renaissance Facebook...

1570 Feb 15.Bartoli informs that a papal edict has stipulated that Romans should not rent their houses to women "di mala vita" [prostitutes], and that the new ghettolike enclosure built by Pope Pius V and here called the Ortaccio [see Doc ID # 21926] will be locked for all of Lent ( Read more... )

AVVISO FROM VENICE. Having read letters from Rome, Bartoli reports that there are rumors that Pope Pius V will issue a bull making adultery a capital offense for both men and women. Paolo Giordano I Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, is going to Florence to visit his wife, Isabella di Cosimo de' Medici-Orsini, who is ill with smallpox. Count Orso Orsini ( Read more... )

Browsing through the online Medici archives ( http://documents.medici.org/ )is lots of fun. Only extracts of the letters are online, but they nonetheless reveal interesting info.

A letter from Cosimo bartoli to grand duke Francesco de' Medici on 23 September 1570
Bartoli reports that ( Read more... )

Not sure if I've posted these before:

Various legislations aiming to separate prostitutes from ladies:

Prostitutes were often labeled by a red dress, clasp, scarf, hat, or cloak, depending on the city and the period. But in late fourteenth-century London and Bristol, they were distinguished from honest women by their striped clothing, and the ( Read more... )