In the fourteenth century, many cities in Europe supported the opening of houses of prostitution, for reasons similar to those presented below by the municipal council of Florence. In the sixteenth century, city councils, such as the one in Nuremberg, closed the approved brothels, although illicit prostitution continued.

[Florence] Desiring to eliminate a worse evil by means of a lesser one, the lord priors . . . [and, their colleges] have decreed that . . . the priors . . . [and their colleges] may authorize the establishment of two public brothels in the city of Florence, in addition to the one which already exists: one in the quarter of S. Spirito and the other in the quarter of S. Croce. [They are to be located] in suitable places or in places where the exercise of such scandalous activity can best be concealed, for the honor of the...