Strozza Loses Face over Brothel

Revellers on a Midsummer's Night on the Quirinale were entertained by the sight of three of Giacomo Strozza's henchmen badly beaten and stripped to their shirts, trailing their sorry arses back to their caserma after an unsuccessful visit to a local brothel.

Anyone who knows anything about the Quirinale area knows that Giacomo Strozza has been throwing his weight about the Trevi Rione, putting the arm on businesses there and taking protection money. No-one seemed to be able, or willing, to rein him in, least of all the Colonnas with their grand palazzo just down the hill. Indeed it is rumoured that Strozza is a Colonna bastard and has their tacit support. It appears he set his sights upon La Deliziosa, a decent brothel at the better end of the Rione, most famous for the services of the exotic courtesan, La Bella Scura.

No-one who knows anything about the feisty Donna Giulia, proprietoress of La Deliziosa, would expect her to quail before the threats of a bunch of thugs and chancers like Strozza's gang - and she didn't. She did not waste her time on fruitless appeals to Colonna or any other of the "great" houses, but instead sent across town to the Aventine to seek the aid of Nicola di Rienzo, a humble Notaio, but a man who has a fast-growing reputation as a man who will seek justice for the poor and the oppressed of Rome. He did not hesitate but dispatched a handful of volunteers to help her. Strange to relate it is said that the group included a couple of priests - though what interest they had in the succour of a brothel is not known.

When Strozza's men came to collect, di Rienzo's men were waiting and the thugs were soundly beaten and sent home in humiliating fashion. Strozza has lost a great deal of face and it is said that as a result many of the businesses in the Rione from whom he was collecting have banded together to refuse him.