1546-1591
Courtesan And Poet

Early Life. Veronica Franco's life suggests both the possibilities and limitations for an educated woman in Renaissance Italy and also highlights the ways in which intellectual connections and literary or artistic talents occasionally worked to offset a life that otherwise went against convention. Franco was the daughter of Francesco Franco, a Venetian merchant, and Paola Fracassa, a woman not his wife who made her living arranging sexual partners and companions for leading Venetian men. Franco's father did not deny that she was his daughter, but officially recognized her, which meant that, like her father, she was considered a citizen of Venice and had an official coat-of-arms. Her father arranged for her to be educated by private tutors along with her brothers, and from a young age she showed great skill in writing.

Multiple Relationships. As was to be expected for a young...