Abstract

Giulia Poggi denies, in a recent study, that «De pura honestidad templo sagrado» describes the small sculpture of the Virgin of Villaviciosa in the Cathedral-Mosque of Córdoba, as suggested by me in 2010, and insists in the supposedly amatory character of the sonnet. In the following pages I demonstrate that neither of the two main arguments adduced by Poggi, a restrictive view of intertextuality, and an arbitrary summary of Pineda’s censorship comments, allow us to decide the point. Lastly, I indicate the comprehension mistakes of some lines of the sonnet by the Italian critic, which have led her astray; and I add some new factual information, related in part to Góngora’s converso condition, recently demonstrated, which strengthen the views that Poggi attempts to deny.