Dangerous Beauty is based on the real-life story of a woman poet in sixteenth century Venice, though it is as much a work of fiction as of fact.Young Veronica Franco and Marco Venier fall in love,...

Dangerous Beauty is based on the real-life story of a woman poet in sixteenth century Venice, though it is as much a work of fiction as of fact.Young Veronica Franco and Marco Venier fall in love, but Veronica has no dowry and Marco's rich father persuades him that it would be an unsuitable match, while Veronica's mother convinces her to take to a life of genteel prostitution. For a long time, Veronica feels badly let down by Marco, and he is the one man she will not have in her bed. Veronica goes on to become a poet as well as a top-flight courtesan, and she even helps to persuade the French to support the Venetian Republic in a war against the Turks. But then Venice is decimated by the plague, and the Catholic Church looks for scapegoats and accuses Veronica of being a witch. At her Inquisition, she defies her enemies and calls on Marco Venier to support her - and he takes his life in his hands and does so.