ABSTRACT
Research concerning the history of homosexuality has given rise to a number of articles and books dealing with homosexuals and the reactions to them from Classical Times to the Renaissance. These studies have generally dealt with large periods of time and have been restricted to specific places, in an attempt to give an overview of the changing attitudes toward homosexuality. The cardinal’s correspondence contains letters from three of the students in the seminary, complaining in explicit terms about homosexual advances made on them by the rector of the seminary, Pierlazzaro Guasconi. Cardinal Giulio must have approved the appointment of Luigi Fontino from the neighboring town of Corinaldo to one of the vacant Lauretan canonries. In the letter, the unfortunate canon states that when told he would be tortured, he realized that he would confess, and so was writing the letter of his own volition, in order to beg for mercy.
