Giacomo Casanova’s 300 years are the thread to discover the city through a myriad of events starting from the Carnival. See our special Guide to eighteenth-century Venice. Here, to start, we present a portrait of the great Seducer written by Alberto Fiorin.

«Sorcerer, thief, spy, forger, traitor, swindler, slanderer, atheist, cheat, con man, spy, fraudster, kabbalist, blasphemer, alchemist. In short: the vilest of men. That’s what has been said and written about me. Ladies and gentlemen – ladies, especially – please pay no mind to these baseless accusations. Believe none of these lies. They have been spread by mean persons who either don’t know me or merely want to take revenge after I treated them like they certainly deserved. And yet, in some sense, these vicious, obscene, false, vile names do me honour. Yes, they honour Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, a.k.a. Knight of Seingalt, the worthy son of my mother, Zanetta La Buranella, and of my father, Gaetano Giuseppe Giacomo Casanova […]».

Full article by Alberto Fiorin >>>

Image: Francesco Giuseppe Casanova, Portrait of Giacomo Casanova
Museo di Storia dello Stato, Mosca – Courtesy Carnevale di Venezia 2025