Sodoma E Gomorra: Cronistoria Del Libertinaggio Attraverso I Secoli Ed Il Mondo

A sprawling, 19th-century Italian survey that traces what the author calls 'libertinism' from ancient Babylon to the modern world. The book uses the biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as its starting point, examining how sexual permissiveness became entangled with religious worship, particularly through the cult of Venus. The author moves through Greek and Roman civilizations, documenting the rituals, communal practices, and famous figures who embodied decadence, always framing these historical accounts with a moralizing Victorian eye. What emerges is less a simple condemnation than a fascinated cataloging of human desire across centuries and cultures, from Eastern temples to Roman orgies, from Renaissance excess to the author's own era. The book is a product of its time: prudish yet titillated, moralistic yet comprehensive in its documentation of forbidden things. For readers interested in the history of sexuality, Victorian attitudes toward antiquity, or the long tradition of moralistic historical writing, this offers an unsettling window into how the 19th century imagined the sins of the past.