Carlo Goldoni

Each day a day goes by. Carlo Goldoni

Born in Venice, the son of a physician or apothecary, Carlo Goldoni (1707–93) used to wander Venice in his three-cornered hat, eavesdropping on conversations; often, he claimed, a mere turn of phrase would inspire his next play. By the smile on the jolly face of his statue in Campo San Bartolomeo, he still finds his fellow citizens amusing, and if he needed fresh material, he’d find plenty every evening around 7pm, when the Venetians would gather for a chat during their evening stroll. Like Hemingway, his nickname was ‘Papa’.

As a young man, Goldoni was interested in the theatre, and though his family sent him to law school and did everything they could to keep him from becoming a playwright, it wasn't long before he realized his great gift was for comedy.