Dangerous Beauty

The Veronica Franco depicted in the film was a real person. She was born in 1546 and died in 1591, at the age of forty-five. She was the most famous courtesan in Italy, but she was also famous for her satire and for her poetry.

The books shown in the movie are printed on paper that is too thin and too white for 16th century. Also, the typeface is too small. Until 1843 paper was made exclusively from rags and this resulted in paper having large fibers and rough surface. Printing ink smeared on the fibers and so printers had to use large typefaces (equivalent to modern 16-18 points at least). White color of paper required and still requires copious use of sulfuric acid that was not available before industrial revolution too. It was not until late 19th century then modern quality paper, such as the one shown in the movie, was developed.