Fiammetta Borghese-Buonocore, the courtesan
All that is known for certain of the early life of la Signora Fiammetta, christened “La Pelosa” by her many admirers in the demimonde, could be writ on the tip of one of her famously dainty paws.
Some whisper that she was born in the most horrifying poverty of the darkest alleys of Palermo. Others, that she is the natural daughter of a noble famiglia that offered her two choices: the convent, or banishment.
Whatever the truth may be, it is certain that sober convent walls could never contain such beauty, such bravura. Her first appearance on the opera stage, in the tiniest of roles, so eclipsed the jealous prima donna that Fiammetta was immediately dismissed from the company.
But a certain industrialist who had been present that night, watching from his box with tears of rapture on his face, was determined to find her.