Who was Casanova - An Insight into the Legendary Lover, Giacomo Casanova

Italy is well known for its ardent, Latino lovers. And thus it is no wonder that its eighteenth century adventurer and diplomat,  Giacomo Casanova is till today remembered as the master lover and seducer. However apart from being an incorrigible, ladies’ man, Casanova was several other things – a soldier, spy, writer and even at some point an ecclesiastic. It is as much because of his libertinism as of his multi-faceted character that the figure of Casanova continues to intrigue and thrill people even today.

Giacomo Casanova was born on April 2, 1725 in Venice, Italy to a family of actors. His mother was actress Zanetta Farussi and his father was actor and dancer Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova. Giacomo pursued his early education in the seminary of St. Cyprian but he was expelled from there on grounds of scandalous conduct. From them on, he embarked on a career of travel, gambling and cheating, though gaining considerable worldly experience from his exploits along the way. After a time in the service of a Roman Catholic cardinal, he was a violinist in Venice. H even joined the Masonic Order in 1750 in Lyon and then traveled to Paris, Dresden, Prague, and Vienna. Though Casanova returned to Venice in 1755, soon after he was charged of dealing in magic and sorcery and sentenced to five years in the Piombi - the prisons under the roof of the Doges’ Palace. On October 31, 1756, Casanova pulled off a spectacular escape and made his way to Paris. There he introduced the lottery and built a considerable financial reputation and influence, especially among the aristocracy who were as keen to splurge as he was ready to exploit their weaknesses.

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However in 1760,  Casanova was forced to leave Paris on account of his creditors and he fled to southern Germany. He took on the name of Chevalier de Seingalt which he retained for the rest of his life. This period of his life saw Casanova moving from one place to another, never being able to settle down, either because of his reputation or his own acts of material and sensual excess. Among the places he crossed during this time were Switzerland, Savoy, southern France, Florence from where he was expelled and Rome. He also spent some time in London. When In Berlin, Casanova was  offered a post by no less than Frederick II but he couldn’t make good the opportunity. Casanova next moved on to Riga, St. Petersburg and Warsaw. A scandal followed by a duel forced him to flee and he eventually sought refuge in Spain. Casanova was allowed to returned to Venice between 1774 and 1782 on the understanding that he would act as a spy for the Venetian inquisitors of state. However the final years of his life from 1785–98 were spent in relative peace in Bohemia as librarian for the Count von Waldstein in the château of Dux. Casanova died at the age of seventy-three on June 4, 1798 at Dux, Bohemia, in present-day Duchcov, Czech Republic.

Today Giacomo Casanova is chiefly remembered as an expert lover who seduced and made love to hundreds of women. It is quite true that Casanova relied on his personal charm to get out of a sticky situation and this involved seducing women to do his bidding or help him get out of trouble. At the same time though, Casanova was a true sensualist; he admitted in his writings that it was one of the chief pleasures of his life to partake of the delight of the senses and this implied giving pleasure to his partners as much as receiving them. John Masters who wrote a biography of Casanova in 1969 has an interesting observation that Casanova’s sexual exploits almost followed a pattern or a plot of a romantic play even; in Act I as it were, he would discover an attractive woman in trouble with a brutish or jealous lover; in the next act, he would help her overcome her difficulties by means of his craftiness; in return she would show her gratitude by allowing him to seduce her; a short exciting affair would ensue in Act III; this would be followed by the inevitable setting in or boredom or waning of ardor and in the end, Casanova he would plead his unworthiness and even arrange for her marriage or pairing with a worthy man, then exit the scene in Act IV. At the same time, it is important to remember that many of Casanova’s writing tend to play up his amorous exploits and the accounts of his seductions of women may have been exaggerated in his memoirs.

However Casanova was much more than a mere womanizer or a libertine. He was a lawyer, mathematician, poet, translator and librarian, fluent in several languages; indeed, he was described by a contemporary as 'the most civilized man in Europe.' And yet he also acted as a con man, cabalist, spy and fugitive from the law. The extreme range of his experiences and identities not only makes him an intriguing figure but enhances his appeal as one who personified the extreme social and moral contradictions of the time.

In the end Giacomo Casanova will probably be remembered more for giving us a true picture of the aristocracy of the times rather than being a mere seducer. Casanova was on intimate terms with most of European nobility of the eighteenth century and had an inner perspective on their social and moral behavior. He was well known to many members of European royalty, popes and cardinals, along with artistic luminaries such as Voltaire, Goethe and Mozart. As versatile in his writing as he was in his career, Casanova wrote occasional verse, criticism, a translation of the Iliad (1775) and a satirical pamphlet on the Venetian patriciate, especially the powerful Grimani family. His most important work, however, is his vivid autobiography, first published after his death as Mémoires de J. Casanova de Seingalt, in twelve volumes. Though this work is the basis of his reputation as the archetypal seducer of women, it is also a remarkable mirror to the social, political, moral and artistic life of the nobility of the times.