Throughout the Italian Renaissance, prostitutes were considered on par with their Greek predecessors. They were visited as were the dignitaries of the city. Montaigne (1533-1592) made a point while in Venice of visiting Veronica Franco who had attempted to "cure" Henry III of his homosexuality.
Some prostitutes entertained such good relations with the Church that when Julian II, Michelangelo's (1475-1564) patron, heard that a famous courtesan, Imperia Cognata, was about to die, he accorded her a special benediction.
