The story of Jessica and Francis is a work of fiction but it is set within a time and place that was very real in the mid-sixteenth century. Venice during the Renaissance was every bit as lush, colorful and decadent as described in these pages. Art, music, international finance and book publishing flourished beside the darker arts of intrigue and midnight assassinations. The Venetian secret police and the Council of Ten were sinister forces to be reckoned with. The secret letter drops called the bocca di lione still linger in some of the city’s walls; their open mouths forever waiting for another anonymous note. Early forms of cipher codes and messages written with invisible inks had their origin in Venice. There were no recorded escapes from the infamous prigione until around 1750 when the famous lover, Casanova, managed to break out through the roof. I hope my readers will allow me a little artistic license in arranging Jessica’s earlier escape. Resourceful men like Francis and Jobe could certainly have rescued her!
Of the many holidays that were celebrated in Venice during that time, none surpassed the midwinter festival when the entire city gave itself up to the pleasures of Carnevale, meaning literally “farewell to meat” that signified the forty days of fasting and prayers during Lent. Masques, dancing, fireworks, games of chance, street corner theater, acrobats, and other wild delights ruled the days and especially the nights. I have included some of the more interesting carnival traditions in my story.
Finally, a note on the famous courtesans of Venice: their beauty, intelligence and sexual expertise were legendary for several hundred years. During the Renaissance, Venice was known as “the best fleshpot in Italy.” Tutoring in the arts of love by a Venetian courtesan was considered a vital part of a young nobleman’s education. By the end of the 1500s, there were more than 11,600 “daughters of Venus” plying their trade in Venice—roughly twelve times the number of the chaste patrician wives.