Casanova (photo:public domain)

Casanova (1725-1798)

Owner Giovanni Giacomo Casanova, Knight de Seingalt. He was born in Venice as the eldest of six children in a family of actors. His father died when he was eight. When his mother played abroad, little Giovanni was under the care of his grandmother. He was considered a weak and underdeveloped child, yet he was sent to school.

He studied in Padua, where at the age of 12 he had his first love adventure. Later, he studied at the university there, receiving a doctoral degree at the age of 16, and then entered the Padua seminary, from which he was expelled. He did not remain a clergyman because other seminarians were to be found in his bedroom. Casanova led an adventurous life, romanced, traveled, learned the cabal, was arrested by the state inquisition and imprisoned in Venice. He was also a Freemason, thanks to which he met the greatest personalities of Europe at that time.

During his travels, he also traveled to Poland, where he was warmly received by King Stanisław August Poniatowski, whose secretary he wanted to become. Casanova, who had seriously injured Count Branicki in a pistol duel (it was for a woman), had to leave the country for fear of the revenge of the loser's supporters. In the following years, he traveled around Europe, engaged in literary work. He published, among others, the famous spicy diaries. He died on June 4, 1798 of a urinary tract infection.