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Giacomo Casanova
Polymath, lover and the greatest diarist of the 18th century
I was all my life the victim of my senses; I have delighted in going astray and I have constantly lived in error, with no other consolation than that of knowing I have erred.from the preface to L'Histoire de Ma Vie
Traveller, scamp, wit, bonvivant, playwright, mathematician, gambler, spy and yes, lover of over 120 women, still Casanova would have been a mere footnote in history had he not penned one of the liveliest autobiographies ever written, peppered with likes of Rousseau, Mme Pompadour, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin and Catherine the Great.
Born and baptised in the parish of San Samuel, Giacomo Casanova (1725 –98) was the eldest of six children of actors Zanetta Farussi and Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova. As his parents were often touring, he was raised by his grandmother; one of his earliest memories was a constant nosebleed, which his grandmother tried to cure by taking him to a witch on Murano.
Images by PD Art