A canon, a choirboy, and homosexuality in late sixteenth-century Italy: a case study

Documents in the Archivio di Stato of Florence allow for the reconstruction of a case of clerical sodomy involving a canon and a choirboy of the Church of Our Lady of Loreto in the year 1570. The story can be followed in detail from its beginning to its tragic conclusion through letters sent to the Cardinal Protector of Loreto and transcripts of interrogations carried out in the town itself.