"On Sunday evening, October 30th [1501], don Cesare Borgia gave a supper in his apartment in the apostolic palace, with fifty decent prostitutes or courtesans in attendance, who after the meal danced with the servants and others there, first fully dressed and then naked. Following the supper too, lampstands holding lighted candles were placed on the floor and chestnuts strewn about, which the prostitutes, naked and on their hands and knees, had to pick up as they crawled in and out amongst the lampstands. The pope, Don Cesare and Donna Lucrezia were all present to watch. Finally, prizes were offered - silken doublets, pair of shoes, hats and other garments - for those men who were most successful with the prostitutes. This performance was carried out in the Sale Reale and those who attended said that in fact the prizes were presented to those who won the contest."
Source: Geoffrey Parker, ed. and transl., At the Court of the Borgia: Being an Account of the Reign of Pope Alexander VI Written by His Master of Ceremonies Johann Burchard, London: Folio Society, 1963, p. 194.
Note: When Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand expelled the Jews from Spain, "[m]any of the ...exiles, through the clemency of reigning Pontiff ...Pope Alexander VI, found a hospitable asylum within the Roman states." James Burton Robertson, Public Lectures delivered before the Catholic University of Ireland, on some subjects of Ancient and Modern History, London: Catholic Bookselling & Publ. Co., 1859, p. 188; archived online at
