The mixture of pain and pleasure became highly appreciated by mid 17th century Italy, at the same time exultant and prudish, outshining though fading away. According to the Catholic Counter-Reformation ideas, there was no pleasure without guilt, nor delight without punishment. True Love can only be but the reward to soul torturing. Its sweetness increases with the bitterness of previous suffering. Carnal Love is the forbidden drug, hence mysterious and irresistible, ever-lastingly desirable. We will see it served in all possible tastes: delightful in Landi; woeful in Bovicelli; joyful in Frescobaldi; hopeful beyond hope in Monteverdi; piquantly erotic in the image of Mary Magdalene standing by the Cross. Only Marini will unconvincingly ask Cupid for some mercy to our desire.