Giacomo Girolamo Casanova admires his tall, slender figure in the gold-trimmed mirror as he adjusts his wig. Everything needs to be perfect as his latest lover is on her way. Oysters, venison and champagne are ready.

The beauty Casanova is waiting for is enchanted by the setting. After dinner, the seducer urges her into the bedroom, where they indulge in a night of lovemaking.

"Feeling that I was born for the opposite sex, I have always loved it, and I have done everything I could to make myself beloved by it," Casanova writes in his memoirs, "The Story of My Life."

He mentions 116 lovers by name in the book, but historians assume that he had sex with several thousand more — aristocrats, daughters from good families, prostitutes and even two nuns.

Among his many conquests was 13-year-old Marie-Louise O'Murphy, who was also the youngest mistress of the French King Louis XV.

Henriette was a woman he seduced away from a Hungarian officer in Italy. Before their final farewell, she carved the words "You will forget Henriette too!" into the window of their room with the point of a diamond he'd bought for her.

He never married, despite his frequent promises. And even though women knew about his erratic lifestyle, they succumbed to his charm.

However, it would be unfair to view Casanova solely as a womanizer, points out Italian Carlo Parodi, who opened a museum for his famous compatriot in Venice in 2018 — which subsequently closed during the COVID pandemic. 

"Casanova was a great thinker, writer and philosopher who has unjustly gone down in history only as a great lover," he points out.

Charming his way into nobility

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born on April 2, 1725, the eldest son of a family of actors who was often cared for by his grandmother because his parents were commonly on tour.

As a 12-year-old, Casanova started studying secular and ecclesiastical law at the University of Padua and earned his degree five years later.

Initially starting a church career as a clerical lawyer, scandals led him to switch professions after three years. He had stints working as a secretary, lieutenant, orchestral violinist, poet and writer, alchemist, secret agent of the Inquisition, financial speculator, diplomat and librarian — just to name just a few of his numerous endeavours.

Despising his commoner background, Casanova aimed to belong to the upper class. Though he wasn't impressed by the nobility's snobbery, he was dazzled by their luxurious lifestyle.

At the age of 21, Casanova assisted Senator Matteo Bragadin while he was having a stroke. "Whoever you are," the senator told him, "I owe you my life." He became his patron, allowing Casanova to lead the life of a nobleman.

Casanova quickly became a high society darling. The educated Venetian, who could speak Italian, French, Greek and Latin, was an entertaining guest who could discuss any topic, whether theology, alchemy, medicine or mathematics.

But he repeatedly got into trouble as well.

On July 26, 1755, Casanova was imprisoned in the infamous Lead Chambers, a cell in the attic of the lead-roofed Doge's palace in Venice. He was accused of blasphemy, indulging in magic and seducing young people into atheism.

Casanova's own theory on the 5-year sentence was that it was retribution for his affair with a woman the state inquisitor was also courting.

He suffered greatly in the stuffy, flea-infested dungeon. "The only thought that dominated my mind was escape," he later wrote. He became the first person to flee the Lead Chambers.

He fled to Paris, where he was celebrated as a hero among those who had already heard the story of his spectacular escape.

A con man and gambler

Casanova repeatedly swindled money from people around him, especially women. Among them was the Marquise d'Urfé, one of the richest aristocrats in France who was obsessed with the occult and the idea of miraculous rejuvenation — beliefs Casanova exploited financially with his knowledge of alchemy.

In 1757, Casanova convinced France to establish a state lottery and landed an extremely lucrative position as lottery director. On the secret orders of the French Foreign Minister, he also handled complex financial transactions on the stock exchange abroad.

But despite his generous income, Casanova spent his money lavishly, was a gambling addict and hence constantly broke.

In 1758, he started styling himself as the Chevalier de Seingalt, and repeatedly found noblemen who vouched for him in letters of praise. Nevertheless, things didn't always go smoothly for the bon vivant: He ended up in prison six times during his lifetime and was expelled from just as many countries.

Throughout his life, Casanova traveled from royal court to royal court across Europe. He met Mozart and Voltaire, Prussia's Frederick the Great and Russia's Catherine the Great. In Rome, Pope Clement XIII made him a Knight of the Golden Spur.

Historians have calculated that Casanova covered a distance equivalent to the circumference of the earth in his lifetime.

When he returned to Venice in 1774 after 17 years in exile, he was physically exhausted; his hometown, once the stage for his numerous orgies, no longer appealed to him.

Full memoirs only published in the 1960s

Casanova was 60 years old, lonely and bitter when he took a job as librarian for Count Waldstein in Bohemia in 1785. Five years later, he began writing his memoirs. He brooded over the manuscript for up to nine hours a day, putting 3,700 pages to paper.

Casanova died on June 4, 1798 at the age of 73.

For years, his memoirs only circulated under the counter in highly censored versions due to the many sexual references. The original version of Casanova's memoirs was only published between 1960 and 1962.

But when the work was finally published, it made him immortal. It offered a unique insight into the life and society of his time and was translated into 20 languages.

It was also the most expensive handwritten manuscript in the world: In 2010, it was acquired by the state's Bibliothèque Nationale de France for about €7.5 million.

And that's how his guiding principle is still quoted today: "I have loved women even to madness, but I have always loved liberty better."

This article was originally written in German.