Falk’s Reviews > The Boundaries of Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice > Status Update

"Obviously, with the abbess heavily engaged in the sexual activities of the house, there was little likelihood that discipline would be maintained at Sant' Angelo. Rather, Sant' Angelo appears to have been a significant feature of Venice's culture of illicit sex, offering contact with women of higher social and perhaps intellectual levels.
Clara Sanuto was not the only abbess intimately involved in the sexual practices of her convent. When a gigantic scandal erupted at San Nicolai di Torcello in 1428, the abbess, the noble Barbarella della Fontana, was a leader in the activity. Once more the case suggested that there was a high level of unprosecuted sexuality in the convent. Her affair with a scribe, Pietro Blanco, paled before the wide range of contacts that her noble sister, Filipa Barbarigo, was found to have preserved behind the walls of the cloister. Ten males were prosecuted for having had sexual relations with Filipa over a considerable period of time. Her list of lovers reads like a Who's Who of Venetian leading noble families: Andrea Barbo, son of the Procurator Giovanni; his brother, Marco; Albano Capello; Marino Contarini; Fantino da Pesaro; Donato Donato; Nicolo Grioni; and Paolo Soranzo. Having catholic tastes, however, she did not limit herself to nobles. Pietro Vercius, a painter, and Pietro Blanco, the abbess's own lover, were prosecuted for frequent fornication with Filipa, both in and outside the convent.
As one might expect, Filipa and her abbess were not the only sisters involved. Clara Rubeo had four admirers who were prosecuted—two nobles and two artisans—and another sister added a humble carpenter to the list. Eventually, fifteen men were prosecuted. Such cases suggest strongly that sexual contacts could be very extensive indeed and involve some of the most important men of the city before prosecution was initiated. In fact, this case almost was not prosecuted. Marino Lando, one of the Avogadori responsible for the case, attempted to get it dropped, apparently because he was a close friend of Giacomo da Pesaro's, brother of Fantino, one of Filipa's numerous lovers. If this large and virtually unavoidable case was almost dropped, we must wonder how many other, smaller affairs managed to slip back into anonymity when they accidentally became public." (pp. 80-81)

I have come to realize the degree of irony in that scene from Hamlet where Hamlet tells Ophelia to “Get thee to a nunnery..” It may be that the character of Hamlet intends no irony, but I’m pretty sure Shakespeare did.