How sexually active were the Italian castrati? We really don’t have any good information about the castrati as a group, only anecdotal reports from jealous husbands that their wives were attracted to them and that some of them were “hypersexual.” A few castrati tried to marry (and a few succeeded despite the legal that theocratic impediments). A very few of the castrati wrote about their sexuality, but always in veiled fashion that was appropriate for the times.

Senesino (1686-1758) playfully versified on women’s fascination for his safe sexual exploits in a letter in which he compares his overused penis to a fruitless tree:

Abbastanza m‘han distrutto

quelle caste verginelle

che sospiran poverette

l’Arbor mio, che non dà frutto

per vogar il remo o frusto

più ne posso alzar la vela.

They have quite destroyed me

those virgin castes

who sighed poor things.

My Arbor, which bears no fruit,

to row the oar or whip

the more I can lift the sail.

[Translation by Google]

_______

Bragaglia, Anton Giulio. (1959). Degli “evirati cantori”: Contributo alla storia del teatro. Florence: Sansoni Antiquariato, p. 74.

A lovely snippet to share. Thank you again.