With a May time weather largely like this:

with low grey clouds and the continued rumble of thunder and persistent downpours combined with the horrible pandemic still preventing a proper tourist season from starting in Italy it may be sobering to spare a thought for the sex workers who line the roads leading to seaside resorts like Viareggio or the more secluded inland forest lanes.

Few chairs in lay-bys are to be found to attract those wishing to be whisked off for quick lays and the covid social distancing and mask wearing regulations can scare off even the most eager client.

Already there have been arrests by the Carabinieri of sex workers operating in the Viale dei Tigli which connects the still mainly unfrequented esplanade of Viareggio with Puccini’s favourite location of Torre del Lago. (He was a ‘donnaiolo’ – look up that word if you still can’t guess its meaning – if there ever was one.)

The Carabinieri have explained to the unfortunate members of the world’s oldest profession that not only were they breaking covid curfew regulations but that their excuses for being out for work reasons were not strictly valid. (I’m sure some men might disagree with this). Furthermore the Carabinieri have been cunning enough to disguise their more attractive female members as prostitutes (PS aren’t Italian order-force women so much more appealing with their red lipstick and long flowing locks crowned by a nattily perched police hat than their prim english counterparts?). Several customers have been caught and fined this way. Be warned men!

(Carabinieri women pretending to be prostitutes)

Certainly this form of self-employment (or mafia-slavery in sadly too many cases) has been very hard hit. Moralists might say this is not unfair but the sex industry has thrived for many years in our part of the world (as the ‘Sexy shop’ proclaims to all motorists entering Lucca’s city limits from Bagni) and has a long history. On a general personal survey, for example, I’ve noted that, apart from women from the African continent- mainly from Senegal, Mali and Nigeria – and the notorious case of Chinese prostitutes flown in from rural areas to Prato there is a large number of sex workers/slaves coming from eastern europe especially Moldova and Kosovo.

From the fifteenth century there was a thriving sex-slave market in Lucca with many of the females for sale coming from the Balkans and Russia. (Plus ca change!) The Guinigi, for example, (the ones who built that famous tower in Lucca with the holm oaks growing at the top of it) obtained various acquisitions at the market.

What justification did the Lucchesi have for engaging in slavery? I do not wish to excuse them but there has to be a historical perspective on the matter. Much of eastern Europe and Russia was under Ottoman empire domination and the Lucchesi felt that not only in buying women from these parts were they saving the distressed damsels from spending the rest of their lives in a sultan’s harem but they were also helping them to convert to Christianity, avoid being adherents to a heretical faith and instead die in salvation.

In many cases, especially if the woman was older or not particularly good -looking, the citizens of Lucca were happy just to purchase a domestic servant. In the case, however, of stunning beauties, high prices were paid. Bidding could be really fast and furious.

Moreover there was consideration paid in the sale if the girl became pregnant – her offspring (provided she did not die in childbirth) would be fully cared for and, most importantly, be declared a free citizen. Finally, owners of sex slaves, paradoxically, obtained Christian merit for in most cases those women servicing the sexual gratification of the owners would be emancipated at the end of their useful sex life and obtain the rights of any other Luccan citizen, thus pleasing the bishop no end who would give indulgences and forgive the sensual sins of the generous ex-owner.

I feel very sad about the conditions of sex workers / slaves in our part of the world at present in the full fury of the Covid pandemic. Deprived of their customers, impoverished by lack of custom, arrested and fined a minimum of three hundred euros by the Carabinieri, abused by ruthless males, enslaved by international crime gangs, subject to appalling May weather and oppressed by cultural interpretations of racism and sexism in our country there is little in life for these often desperate women to look forwards to. And as for their children?