e they were economically vulnerable, Franco became a courtesan out of necessity, following in her mother’s footsteps. She had three brothers and gained most of her education indirectly through them and benefited from their private tutors and public schooling. She was married early to Paolo Paniza, a doctor, but this marriage did not last very long. She advanced very quickly through the ranks of the courtesans, mostly through her friendship with the celebrated patron of letters, Domenico Venier, and soon became the most famous of all the Venetian courtesans (Lawner 87). She was championed as the most beautiful, cultivated, and honored courtesan in Venice. When King Henry III was celebrated in 1574, she was the one he chose to visit and she made such an impression that he took away with him two of her sonnets and an enameled portrait of her. She made a success of her profession and then invented herself as a literary figure as well. Between 1570 and 1580, she wrote poetry, public letters, and took on editorial projects and was a success, helped once again by her close friend Domenico Venier, whose literary salon she frequented. Her most famous works, the Terze rime, a collection her poetry, and the Lettere familiari a diversi, her familiar letters, were published in 1575. Read together, they give the reader in inside look into the life of a courtesan, specifically, Veronica’s life (Stortoni 12). She also compiled a commemorative edition of poems for Estore Martinengo, the slain brother of one of her lovers. Along with nine of her own sonnets, she completed the edition in 1575 with seventeen sonnets by members of Domenico Venier’s literary salon. This prosperity could not last forever, though. In 1580, Franco was accused of witchcraft by the male tutor of her children, Riedolfo Vannitelli. She was summoned by the Inquisition courts and demonstrated her assertiveness and her insistence on defending herself ag...
