Casanova Museo Historical Timeline

Origins

Giacomo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725, the son of actors, and went on to become one of the most versatile figures of the 18th-century Enlightenment -- a writer, diplomat, librarian, and self-taught scholar, though he is remembered popularly today mainly as a seducer.

Turning points

In 1755 Casanova was arrested and imprisoned in I Piombi, the cells beneath the lead roof of the Doge's Palace, on charges linked to impiety and freemasonry. His escape from I Piombi the following year -- one of the very few recorded -- became one of the most celebrated episodes of his life, and one he later wrote about in detail.

Influential people

Casanova spent his final years as a librarian at Count Waldstein's castle in Dux (present-day Duchcov, in Bohemia), where he wrote his memoirs, "Histoire de ma vie" ("The Story of My Life"), now regarded as one of the richest surviving accounts of daily life and society in 18th-century Europe.

Cultural evolution

For much of the two centuries since, Casanova's public reputation narrowed to that of a seducer, overshadowing his standing as a writer, librettist, and Enlightenment intellectual.

Present-day significance

The Casanova Museum and Experience, a multimedia museum in Palazzo Pesaro Papafava, was created specifically to broaden that reputation, presenting Casanova's life and ideas alongside the more familiar stories about him.