«She Called Her, Spoke to Her, Urged Her to Abandon Sin». Redemption Paths for Roman Prostitutes Across the 16th and the 17th Century

Abstract: Despite its role as the centre of Christianity, at the beginning of the early modern age the city of Rome had an amount of prostitutes that was higher than the number of nuns. The Catholic Church condemned the scourge of prostitution and tried to stem it in various ways, for example by imposing taxes, corporal punishment, or exile from the municipality. But, above all it tried to promote systems to push prostitutes to repent, change their lives, and convert to a new existence. This essay intends to retrace paths, methods, and requirements that opened up to the prostitutes – whether they were young or old, married or not – the opportunity for giving up their lustful business, entering a redemption institute and finding a new position that was considered appropriate by the society which they lived in.

It is at this moment notified to all those Courting Women who are of the prescribed age and who wish to retire from the World and to compete in the said Dowry Grants, to give, by the 20th of the current month of June, their Memorials, there specifying their Name, Surname, Country, Age, Parish, and exact place where each one lives so that they can be visited; warning that the Memorials must be placed in the marble Box near the door of the Church of the said Monastery [of St Mary Magdalene].

This was stated in a Roman printed Notification in 1703. It invited the city’s prostitutes to hand over their details to the authorities if they wanted to “convert” and abandon the licentious habits they had been having so far in order to dedicate the following years to penance and spiritual and moral redemption.

Many studies have been conducted over the last fifty years to date for analysing the topic of female prostitution in the modern age. In recent decades, much attention has also been given – primarily by the specialists in women’s history and gender studies – to the concept of the body throughout history, to its “management” by its owners or to its “expropriation” by others who have assumed the right to administer it on their behalf, with or without their consent. Finally, research is also multiplying on the issue of women’s individual agency and their capacity for resilience. The studies that have specifically addressed the territory of Rome have shown that, at the beginning of the modern age, the number of prostitutes in this city was higher than the number of nuns, with a variable trend depending on both the economic and social causes of the respective phenomena and on the related legislation implemented over time.

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Autore

Alessia Lirosi

Alessia Lirosi è professoressa associata di Storia moderna all’Università degli Studi Niccolò Cusano di Roma. Insieme a Liviana Gazzetta dirige la Collana Donne, Fedi, Culture per le Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. Tra le sue pubblicazioni vi sono le monografie: Una confraternita femminile a Roma. La Compagnia di Sant’Anna nella chiesa di S. Pantaleo tra XVII e XVIII secolo (Roma 2019); Libere di sapere. Il diritto delle donne all’istruzione dal Cinquecento al mondo contemporaneo (Roma, 2015, vincitore del Premio Soroptimist 2015); I monasteri femminili a Roma tra XVI e XVII secolo, (Roma 2012, vincitore del Premio Desiderio Pirovano 2013 dell’Istituto Luigi Sturzo). Ha poi curato diversi volumi, tra cui Donne e Inquisizione insieme a Marina Caffiero (Roma 2020) e Religioni e Parità di genere con Alessandro Saggioro (Roma 2022).
Alessia Lirosi is Associate Professor of Early Modern and Modern History at Niccolò Cusano University in Rome. She is the director of the Book Series Donne, Fedi, Culture (Women, Faiths, Cultures) for Ed. Storia e Letteratura, with Liviana Gazzetta. Among her publications there are the monographs: Una confraternita femminile a Roma. La Compagnia di Sant’Anna nella chiesa di S. Pantaleo tra XVII e XVIII secolo (Roma 2019); Libere di sapere. Il diritto delle donne all’istruzione dal Cinquecento al mondo contemporaneo (Roma, 2015, winner of Premio Soroptimist 2015); I monasteri femminili a Roma tra XVI e XVII secolo, (Roma 2012, winner of Premio Desiderio Pirovano 2013 of Istituto Luigi Sturzo). She also edited some books, for instance Donne e Inquisizione with Marina Caffiero (Roma 2020), and Religioni e Parità di genere with Alessandro Saggioro (Roma 2022)