Casanova- The Original Ladies Man

Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798)

"I begin by declaring to my reader that, by everything good or bad that I have done throughout my life, I am sure that I have earned merit or incurred guilt, and that hence I must consider myself a free agent. ... Despite an excellent moral foundation, the inevitable fruit of the divine principles which were rooted in my heart, 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. ... My follies are the follies of youth. You will see that I laugh at them, and if you are kind you will laugh at them with me"- Casanova ( The Story of my Life)

The legend of Giacomo Casanova (18th century PLAYBOY) was large in his own time and has only grown in the past two-hundred years. A mere mention of Casanova brings to mind images of adventure, intrigue and of course, seduction. Even a recent Hollywood movie (starring the late Heath Ledger) that did little justice to his real life could tarnish Casanova's legend. Intelligent, charming and cunning, Casanova could survive on his wits or his money (when he had any) with equal success. The beautiful women of Europe were at his mercy for more than one reason and the men coveted his secret knowledge of the occult and alchemy.

At the end of his life, a bitter and broken Casanova documented his monumental experiences in an enormous twelve-volume autobiography called The Story Of My Life. The work, which occupied Casanova's last years sets the bar high for any aspiring womanizer. This true life account of adventure, intrigue, betrayal and wild sex would make the hero of any trashy romance novel blush from inexperience.

FUN FACT- If you are a Barney Stinson fan, you would know that in Season 5 he declares to Marshall that it was his goal to have sex with at least one 'chick' from every country on earth. Well, this man Casanova reached very near to Barney's goal, he has recorded in his memoirs intimacy with over 122 women from various countries making himself the MOST FAMOUS EROTIC HERO!!! 

Giacomo Casanova was born in Venice. His father, Gaetano Casanova was an actor, who also directed some plays. He had married in 1724 Giovanna Maria (Zanetta) Farussi, an actress, and a perfect beauty.
Casanova's goes into detail about the women in his life complete with pages of dialogue that even though the man kept copious notes, must be fabricated at least in part. However, when it comes to the women in Casanova's life, you have to start with his strained relationship with his mother.

CASANOVA'S MOTHER:

Zanetta Farussi's callous attitude and later abandonment of her first-born son would mold Giacomo Casanova into the man he would become. Zanetta Casanova certainly fit the stereotype of her day of a promiscuous actress and like her famous son, Zanetta traveled throughout Europe and had lovers and admirers from Venice to London. By the time Casanova lost his virginity in a ménage à trios( I don't need to write the English term ;)) with two young Venetian noblewomen, he was well on his way toward a life of sexual adventures. He received a good education, and showed early extraordinary cleverness. He studied at the University of Padua and at the seminary of St. Cyprian from where he was expelled for scandalous conduct. Drinking and love affairs ended his plans to become a priest, but he never gave up his belief in the existence of an immortal God.

Heath Ledger as Casanova

PHYSICAL FEATURES:
Casanova enjoyed good health until very late in life - he was five feet nine inches and he had a very dark skin. He contracted his first venereal disease in adolescence and the pox, gonorrhea, 'Celtic humors,' and other venereal diseases marked different periods of his life. In 1744 he became a secretary to Cardinal Acquaviva of Rome. A scandal again forced Casanova to leave the city and he traveled in Naples, Corfu, and Constantinople, settling in Venice. He had a love affair with Signora F. and in 1746 he was a violinist in the San Samuel theater in Venice.

CASANOVA & THE ART OF SEDUCTION:
Casanova advises, “There is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means.” Alcohol and violence, for him, were not proper tools of seduction. Instead, attentiveness and small favors should be employed to soften a woman’s heart, but “a man who makes known his love by words is a fool”. Verbal communication is essential—“without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds”—but words of love must be implied, not boldly proclaimed.

He noted that he sometimes used "assurance caps" to prevent impregnating his mistresses. Casanova advises, “There is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means.”Alcohol and violence, for him, were not proper tools of seduction. Instead, attentiveness and small favors should be employed to soften a woman’s heart, but “a man who makes known his love by words is a fool”. Verbal communication is essential—“without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds”—but words of love must be implied, not boldly proclaimed.

Mutual consent is important, according to Casanova, but he avoided easy conquests or overly difficult situations as not suitable for his purposes. He strove to be the ideal escort in the first act—witty, charming, confidential, helpful—before moving into the bedroom in the third act. Casanova claims not to be predatory (“my guiding principle has been never to direct my attack against novices or those whose prejudices were likely to prove an obstacle”); however, his conquests did tend to be insecure or emotionally exposed women.

CASANOVA'S SERIOUS AFFAIR & EVENTUAL HEARTBREAK:
Casanova met in 1749 his great love, the young and mysterious Frenchwoman, Henriette, in Cesena. "People who believe that a woman is not enough to make a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of a day have never known an Henriette." Henriette left him, returned to his family, and Casanova remembers it in his autobiography as one of the saddest moments in his life. Running from an angry husband in the guise of a man, Henriette basically used Casanova as well as several other men to escape to the city of Parma in luxury. She was everything that Casanova wanted in a lover: beautiful, intelligent, aristocratic and Henriette wanted no commitment. In the end Casanova was abandoned and virtually bankrupted by Henriette, who returned to her family in France. Decades later Casanova would carry on a correspondence with the now widowed Henriette and although he would not see her again, he continued to love the woman he could not have.






CASANOVA'S INCEST:
Leonilda was the love child between Casanova and Donna Lucrezia that was raised as legitimate by her family. But sixteen years later Leonilda brings home her fiancé - her biological father Giacomo Casanova!! The engagement is dropped fortunately, but Casanova still has dark intentions on his daughter and ends up getting Leonilda and her mother Donna Lucrezia in bed. However Casanova claims that he did not have intercourse with his daughter on this occasion. If his memoirs can be trusted he may have met Leonilda years later, married to an impotent husband and got her pregnant, thereby siring his own grandson.

Casanova also had a penchant for deflowering virgins in such a way that he convinced them of his undying devotion before deserting them, which must have led to broken hearts across Europe.  Although Casanova claimed that he had to find his women both physically and mentally stimulating, he was not above having sex with the lowest of street whores or even complete strangers.




Soldier, Spy, Diplomat, Writer, Adventurer & Intellectual:

Although best known for his prowess in seduction for more than two hundred years since his death, Casanova was also recognized by his contemporaries as an extraordinary person, a man of far-ranging intellect and curiosity. Casanova was one of the foremost chroniclers of his age. He was a true adventurer, traveling across Europe from end-to-end in search of fortune, seeking out the most prominent people of his time to help his cause. He was a man of contradictory traits—generous and mean, honest and deceptive, fawning and aloof, skeptical and gullible, superstitious and rational. He was a servant of the establishment and equally decadent as his times, but also a participant in secret societies and a seeker of answers beyond the conventional. He was religious, a devout Catholic, and believed in prayer: “Despair kills; prayer dissipates it; and after praying man trusts and acts.” But he also believed in free will and reason and clearly did not subscribe to the notion that pleasure-seeking would keep him from heaven, if heaven did indeed exist.

He was, by vocation and avocation, a lawyer, clergyman, military officer, violinist, con man, pimp, gourmand, dancer, businessman, diplomat, spy, politician, mathematician, social philosopher, cabalist, playwright, and writer. He wrote over twenty works, including plays and essays, and many letters. His novel Icosameron is an early work of science fiction.
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As well as good looks he possesses the rare gift of befriending women. He has the knack of addressing them as if they were his equals, and undressing them as if they were his superiors.Not only was Casanova the first so-called Ladies Man, he was the best and every gigolo or self-described Don Juan ever since has just been badly imitating what Casanova perfected.- Judith Summers

CASANOVA & GAMBLING:
Casanova gambled throughout his adult life, winning and losing large sums. He was tutored by professionals, and he was “instructed in those wise maxims without which games of chance ruin those who participate in them”. He was not above occasionally cheating and at times even teamed with professional gamblers for his own profit. Casanova claims that he was “relaxed and smiling when I lost, and I won without covetousness”. However, when outrageously duped himself, he could act violently, sometimes calling for a duel. Casanova admits that he was not disciplined enough to be a professional gambler: “I had neither prudence enough to leave off when fortune was adverse, nor sufficient control over myself when I had won.” Nor did he like being considered as a professional gambler: “Nothing could ever be adduced by professional gamblers that I was of their infernal clique.” Although Casanova at times used gambling tactically and shrewdly—for making quick money, for flirting, making connections, acting gallantly, or proving himself a gentleman among his social superiors—his practice also could be compulsive and reckless, especially during the euphoria of a new sexual affair. "Why did I gamble when I felt the losses so keenly? What made me gamble was avarice. I loved to spend, and my heart bled when I could not do it with money won at cards."

DEATH:
In 1797, word arrived that the Republic of Venice had ceased to exist and Napoleon Bonaparte had seized Casanova’s home city. It was too late to return home. Casanova died on June 4, 1798 at age 73. His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian”.

Casanova is unsurpassed, as the recreator of the daily talking interests of 18th century Europe. He ranges from slut to patrician, from closet to cabinet, waterfront to palace. He is superior to all other erotic writers because of his pleasure in news, in gossip, in the whole personality of his mistresses. - V. S. Pritchett