"Venice makes you feel like you can dare anything."
Veronica Franco has been known for centuries as the famous Venetian courtesan who shared intimacies with emperors, those who ruled Venice in the 16th century, whether it was due to their political power or money. However, in her book "Honorata Cortigiana" the Italian writer Rosa Ventrella, manages to go beyond the infamous person to expose a woman in love with poetry and aspiring to a higher lever of beauty, love and life. It somehow reminded me of the main character from the movie "Moulin Rouge", the courtesan Satin, played wonderfully by Nicole Kidman.
"She possessed a more wicked gift than money: she knew how to read in men's eyes unutterable desires. And she was willing to turn them into reality."
Back to the book, we discover Veronica as a teenager, before her mother convinced her to follow in her footsteps and become a courtesan herself, then we see her struggle in an unsatisfying marriage with an old but rich man who is aware of her sexual needs that she is trying to fulfill by turning into the most desired courtesan of that time in Venice to finally giving everything up - fame, fortune and even freedom -to be together with the man that she loves.
"The pain of living was tearing her heart."
Veronica was truly a powerful woman and a visionary, beyond that flaws that some of us may see in her character. Her wish to spend her fortune on building a shelter for former courtesans is something to appreciate her for, together with the honesty that she shows in her final years. A wonderful book to read in order to discover a world long gone yet still vivid in the writer's imagination. And ours.
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