Pietro Artino's Ragionamenti
Embedded Files
One of the earliest refereces to something we would recognize as a modern-day dildo can be found in Pietro Aretino’s (1492 - 1556) Ragionamenti which translates to dialogues or discussions. It is often considered the first literary pornography and Aretino is sometimes refered to as the 'father of pornography.' These dialogues revolve around the life of Nanna, an older courtesan agonizing over what to do with her daughter. The only options are for her daughter to become a nun, a housewife or a courtesan. The book is divided into three sections each exploring one of these options.
From the section titles "Life of nuns" Nanna tells her daughter of her visit to the monastery and describes in great detail a rather elaborate feast. At the conclusion of the feast, a young man arrives carrying "carried in his hands a basket covered with the whitest, thinnest linen imaginable. Was it snow? Frost? Milk? It outshone the moon in whiteness" the story continues:
From the section titles "Life of nuns" Nanna tells her daughter of her visit to the monastery and describes in great detail a rather elaborate feast. At the conclusion of the feast, a young man arrives carrying "carried in his hands a basket covered with the whitest, thinnest linen imaginable. Was it snow? Frost? Milk? It outshone the moon in whiteness" the story continues:
ANTONIA: What did he do with the basket, and what was in it ? NANNA: Don't hurry me. Bowing in the Neapolitanized Spanish style, the boy said: "Good health to your lordships," and then added: "A servant of this merry band sends you fruit from the earthly paradise." Then he uncovered the gift and set it on the table. At once a roar of laughter arose that sounded like thunder—the whole table burst out laughing, just like a poor family bursts into tears at seeing their father close his eyes forever.ANTONIA: What apt and natural comparisons you make! NANNA: No sooner were those fruits of paradise seen than the hands of both sexes, already engaged in conversation with one another's thighs, tits, flutes, and bags, lunged for them with the dexterity of pickpockets emptying a blockhead's purse, or as the mob dives for the candles thrown from the loggia of St. John of Lateran on Candlemas Day. ANTONIA: And what sort of fruits were they? What? Tell me. NANNA: They were those glass fruits made in Murano* near Venice to look like a prick, except that these had two large dangling bells that would have done honor to a tambourine. ANTONIA: Ha ha! I got it, by the beak. I'm clutching it. NANNA: And blessed, not just lucky, was the woman who grabbed the biggest, thickest fruit, nor did a single one of them forget to kiss hers, saying as she did: "These little things abate the temptations of the flesh."ANTONIA: May .the devil destroy their seed! NANNA: And all the while I was acting the pure country lass, stealing glances at the glass fruit like a crafty cat that keeps one eye on the servant while with its paw it tries to snatch the piece of meat she's carelessly left untended. And if the sister at my side, after snatching two, hadn't given me one so as not to appear greedy, I would certainly have taken one myself.
*If you have a little extra money laying around you can still buy a Murano glass dildo today!
*If you have a little extra money laying around you can still buy a Murano glass dildo today!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse