Women have not yet realized the cowardice that resides, for if they should decide to do so, they would be able to fight you until death; and to prove that I speak the truth, amongst so many women, I will be the first to act, setting an example for them to follow.

By the 1570s Veronica Franco belonged to one of the more prestigious literary circles in the city participating in discussions and contributing to and editing anthologies of poetry. Veronica Franco: Donna poetessa e cortigiana del Rinascimento. Rosenthal Margaret F.

Veronica Franco (1546–1591) was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th-century Venice.