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The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Chicago Series
Poems and Selected Letters
Veronica Franco (whose life is featured in the motion picture Dangerous Beauty) was a sixteenth-century Venetian beauty, poet, and protofeminist. This collection captures the frank eroticism and impressive eloquence that set her apart from the chaste, silent woman prescribed by Renaissance gender ideology.
As an "honored courtesan", Franco made her living by arranging to have sexual relations, for a high fee, with the elite of Venice and the many travelers—merchants, ambassadors, even kings—who passed through the city. Courtesans needed to be beautiful, sophisticated in their dress and manners, and elegant, cultivated conversationalists. Exempt from many of the social and educational restrictions placed on women of the Venetian patrician class, Franco used her position to recast "virtue" as "intellectual integrity," offering wit and refinement in return for patronage and a place in public life.
Franco became a writer by allying herself with distinguished men at the center of her city's culture, particularly in the informal meetings of a literary salon at the home of Domenico Venier, the oldest member of a noble family and a former Venetian senator. Through Venier's protection and her own determination, Franco published work in which she defended her fellow courtesans, speaking out against their mistreatment by men and criticizing the subordination of women in general. Venier also provided literary counsel when she responded to insulting attacks written by the male Venetian poet Maffio Venier.
Franco's insight into the power conflicts between men and women and her awareness of the threat she posed to her male contemporaries make her life and work pertinent today.
As an "honored courtesan", Franco made her living by arranging to have sexual relations, for a high fee, with the elite of Venice and the many travelers—merchants, ambassadors, even kings—who passed through the city. Courtesans needed to be beautiful, sophisticated in their dress and manners, and elegant, cultivated conversationalists. Exempt from many of the social and educational restrictions placed on women of the Venetian patrician class, Franco used her position to recast "virtue" as "intellectual integrity," offering wit and refinement in return for patronage and a place in public life.
Franco became a writer by allying herself with distinguished men at the center of her city's culture, particularly in the informal meetings of a literary salon at the home of Domenico Venier, the oldest member of a noble family and a former Venetian senator. Through Venier's protection and her own determination, Franco published work in which she defended her fellow courtesans, speaking out against their mistreatment by men and criticizing the subordination of women in general. Venier also provided literary counsel when she responded to insulting attacks written by the male Venetian poet Maffio Venier.
Franco's insight into the power conflicts between men and women and her awareness of the threat she posed to her male contemporaries make her life and work pertinent today.
216 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 1998
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About the author
Veronica Franco
29 books48 followersVeronica Franco (1546–1591) was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th century Venice.
Life as a courtesan
Renaissance Venetian society recognized two different classes of courtesans: the cortigiana onesta, the intellectual courtesan, and the cortigiana di lume, lower-class courtesans (closer kin to prostitutes today) who tended to live and practice their trade near the Rialto Bridge. Veronica Franco was perhaps the most celebrated member of the former category, although Franco was hardly the only onesta in 16th-century Venice who could boast of a fine education and considerable literary and artistic accomplishments.
The daughter of another cortigiana onesta, Franco learned the art at a young age from her mother and was trained to use her natural assets and abilities to achieve a financially beneficial marriage. While still in her teens, Franco married a wealthy physician, but the union ended badly. In order to support herself, Franco turned to serving as a cortigiana to wealthy men. She quickly rose through the ranks to consort with some of the leading notables of her day and even had a brief liaison with Henry III, King of France. Franco was listed as one of the foremost courtesans of Venice in Il Catalogo di tutte le principale et piu honorate cortigiane di Venezia.
A well-educated woman, Veronica Franco wrote two volumes of poetry: Terze rime in 1575 and Lettere familiari a diversi in 1580. She published books of letters and collected the works of other leading writers into anthologies. Successful in her two lines of work, Franco also founded a charity for courtesans and their children.
Life as a courtesan
Renaissance Venetian society recognized two different classes of courtesans: the cortigiana onesta, the intellectual courtesan, and the cortigiana di lume, lower-class courtesans (closer kin to prostitutes today) who tended to live and practice their trade near the Rialto Bridge. Veronica Franco was perhaps the most celebrated member of the former category, although Franco was hardly the only onesta in 16th-century Venice who could boast of a fine education and considerable literary and artistic accomplishments.
The daughter of another cortigiana onesta, Franco learned the art at a young age from her mother and was trained to use her natural assets and abilities to achieve a financially beneficial marriage. While still in her teens, Franco married a wealthy physician, but the union ended badly. In order to support herself, Franco turned to serving as a cortigiana to wealthy men. She quickly rose through the ranks to consort with some of the leading notables of her day and even had a brief liaison with Henry III, King of France. Franco was listed as one of the foremost courtesans of Venice in Il Catalogo di tutte le principale et piu honorate cortigiane di Venezia.
A well-educated woman, Veronica Franco wrote two volumes of poetry: Terze rime in 1575 and Lettere familiari a diversi in 1580. She published books of letters and collected the works of other leading writers into anthologies. Successful in her two lines of work, Franco also founded a charity for courtesans and their children.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 25, 2016
This is a great series (Other Voices in EM Europe) making non-canonical works and writers available at an accessible price. And this volume is one of my favourites. Veronica Franco was one of the most beautiful and successful of the C16th Venetian courtesans, but far more than a pretty face, she was also intelligent, intellectual and a great writer.
This is the first translation into English of 15 of the 50 letters she published, and all the poetry. Influenced by the classical letter collections (Cicero, Seneca, Pliny) she makes the medium her own, referencing Cicero in the title (ad familiares) and yet setting up a fascinating dialogue with Ovid's 'dual letters' from the Heroides.
Her poetry, too, engages with classical models, particularly Latin love elegy (Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Sulpicia) but re-writes it from a woman's view, turning some of the conventions on their head.
Witty, vivid, graceful, Veronica Franco uses her writing to both advertise her intellectual and erotic skills as a courtesan, and yet at the same time ensure that she is the subject of her own sexuality, rather than just a commodity exchanged for male pleasure.
Great poetry, a vivid picture of Renaissance Venice, and a woman with a strong personality.
This is the first translation into English of 15 of the 50 letters she published, and all the poetry. Influenced by the classical letter collections (Cicero, Seneca, Pliny) she makes the medium her own, referencing Cicero in the title (ad familiares) and yet setting up a fascinating dialogue with Ovid's 'dual letters' from the Heroides.
Her poetry, too, engages with classical models, particularly Latin love elegy (Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Sulpicia) but re-writes it from a woman's view, turning some of the conventions on their head.
Witty, vivid, graceful, Veronica Franco uses her writing to both advertise her intellectual and erotic skills as a courtesan, and yet at the same time ensure that she is the subject of her own sexuality, rather than just a commodity exchanged for male pleasure.
Great poetry, a vivid picture of Renaissance Venice, and a woman with a strong personality.
April 5, 2019
veronica is genius and is very much in on the joke, in her clever mocking of petrarch's destructive notion of "love," of her portrayal of life as a courtesan and, with that, as a woman. yes veronica!
October 1, 2023
Didn't exactly illuminate my spirit but not the most grating thing I've had to read for school
April 4, 2021
Love her poetry - it feels so modern & proud (when she's not flattering the King of France)
March 3, 2017
Veronica Franco is one of my favourite female Renaissance writers. She was truly gifted and I really like how she is always composed. When she was maligned in a letter, she responded to the writer in a calm and graceful manner, but she nonetheless skewered him. That was so gratifying
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July 21, 2025To be frank, before stumbling upon this book in my closest thrift store, I had no idea who Veronica Franco was, but now that I know her, I also now know to applaud her candid nature and unapologetic womanhood. Franco was a courtesan (what today would often be considered a sex worker), though definitely one of higher privilege and the nepotistic advantages of it being a hereditary career, though despite being unashamed of her chosen profession, she in no way bandied for the cause, acknowledging its foreboding corruption and financial instability. This collection of letters and poems sourced from her oeuvre primarily concern love, and even more precisely, the ways in which love can cause fiery anger, sorrowful longing, and the birth of devastating soliloquy depending on its varying sources and outcomes. Franco never hesitated to profess her feelings, whether favorable or otherwise, more often otherwise, and strongly and personally headed her local cause for women’s equality or often superiority to men, and women’s right to complex lives and expression. I most admire in Veronica her uninhibited passionate anger, something often belittled in women, but truly one of the reasonable feelings we could have considering our infinite history of being endlessly maligned, and I laud the way women like Franco continually and actively use their anger to further their causes.
Soraya Chemaly says in her book, Rage Becomes Her, “Anger is an assertion of rights and worth. It is communication, equality, and knowledge. It is intimacy, acceptance, fearlessness, embodiment, revolt, and reconciliation. Anger is memory and rage. It is rational thought and irrational pain. Anger is freedom, independence, expansiveness, and entitlement. It is justice, passion, clarity, and motivation. Anger is instrumental, thoughtful, complicated, and resolved. In anger, whether you like it or not, there is truth.”
Veronica Franco resolved, advanced, and moved with anger, devotion, and honesty, and I am grateful to know she existed.
Soraya Chemaly says in her book, Rage Becomes Her, “Anger is an assertion of rights and worth. It is communication, equality, and knowledge. It is intimacy, acceptance, fearlessness, embodiment, revolt, and reconciliation. Anger is memory and rage. It is rational thought and irrational pain. Anger is freedom, independence, expansiveness, and entitlement. It is justice, passion, clarity, and motivation. Anger is instrumental, thoughtful, complicated, and resolved. In anger, whether you like it or not, there is truth.”
Veronica Franco resolved, advanced, and moved with anger, devotion, and honesty, and I am grateful to know she existed.
November 12, 2016
I will always be in love with Veronica Franco. She lived during a time when women didn't have it easy, but rather than shying away from the prospect of selling herself, she embraced the chance to be educated as a courtesan. She was beautiful, intelligent and incredibly brave. She inspired me in so many ways. I would have loved to have met her and to have been mentored by her.
May 6, 2020
This book is a great study on the poems of Veronica Franco. The author also gives an analysis of the poem within Veronica´s life and social context. Using a very unique, sharp, eloquent and elegant language, her poems can take you through a voyage in her time. It also an opportunity to know an important woman in the feminine history.
June 28, 2019
I enjoyed the movie Dangerous Beauty. Veronica Franco was fierce. I was very excited when I started reading this book. As I read I found myself over the read. No connection or interest to finish reading the book.
December 15, 2023
had to write a research paper on her poetry for a class, so i read most of her poems. now im in love. what a gal! its incredible to see how a courtesan from the 16th century regarded women such highly and fought so hard for equity. we need more women like her. such an iconic protofeminist.
January 31, 2025
Again, not the most inspiring poetry translations, but they definitely flow better than some of the others in this series, and the liveliness of Franco’s literary voice is obvious even in this imperfect translated state.
June 8, 2020
Brilliant and powerful Veronica Franco was a women before her time and for strong women now would really appreciate her poetry. I find the poetry she wrote to be powerful and raw emotions
February 9, 2022
Eloquent, erotic and passionate.
April 3, 2023
read for my women in early modern europe history class. veronica was MOTHER!!!!!
April 25, 2023
From the first letter I loved her writing and the poems in this book were just exquisite and it felt like such a privilege to be able to read them.
March 4, 2024
i wish i was as cool as franco
September 7, 2025
good advice
January 21, 2009
Her prose is passionate, erotic, political and polemical. The translation is well-done, though it is worth it to read the original Italian (Venetian dialect) on the opposite page to get a feel for the rhythm and soul of her words.
November 18, 2008
I love Italian Poetry.
Her letters and poems give a magnificent glimpse into the Life and Loves of one Courtesan of Italy.
Her letters and poems give a magnificent glimpse into the Life and Loves of one Courtesan of Italy.
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October 8, 2009So romantic and such an artist with words, with love,feelings...Amazing..
January 28, 2008
Great poetry from a powerful Venetian prostitute!
March 10, 2012
Interesting but rather dry reading.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews