An erotic hero.

Famous erotic hero, women seducer and a libertine. Giacomo Casanova. 

Define Libertine?

A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by the larger society. Libertines place value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses.

 "Libertine" is defined today as "a dissolute person; usually a person who is morally unrestrained"

    One of the most legendary libertines / erotic hero of all time is Giacomo Casanova. He is best known for seducing women, but Casanova had a diverse career: he was a spy, a soldier, a law clerk and at one point entered a seminary.  Casanova “adventures” includes frolicking around with 122 women – according to his own counts.  

   Giacomo Casanova was born in Venice. His father, Gaetano Casanova was an actor, who also directed some plays. He had married in 1724 to Giovanna Maria (Zanetta) Farussi, an actress, and a perfect beauty. In his childhood Casanova suffered from nose bleeds, and his parents thought that he would not live long. Strong women dominated his life: his mother and a witch who helped him to stop the bleeding. Later in his life he occasionally dressed himself as a woman. Casanova's parents left him in the care of his maternal grandmother, Marzia Farussi, and went off to London. Zanetta and Gaetano returned to Venice in 1728. Casanova's father breathes his last breath in 1733 but Zanetta turned down all her suitors and decided to bring up her children on her own. However, she soon left Venice and ended in Dresden, where she was a member of the Comici Italiani ensemble.

   Casanova received a good education, and showed early extraordinary cleverness. He learned to read in a less than a month. In 1734, Casanova was sent to live with Doctor Gozzi in Padua. He studied at the University of Padua and at the seminary of St. Cyprian from where he was expelled for indecent conduct. Drinking and love affairs ended his plans to become a priest, but he never gave up his faith in the existence of an immortal God.

   Casanova served in the army for some time, played violin, but not very successfully, and worked for the lawyer Manzoni. In 1742, he received his doctorate from Padua. A few years later he became a secretary to Cardinal Acquaviva of Rome, but a scandal again forced Casanova to leave the city and he traveled in Naples, Corfu, and Constantinople. Eventually he settled in Venice, where he had a love affair with Signora F.  In 1746 he was a violinist in the San Samuel theater.

   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 a Henriette."

 Henriette left him and it was one of the saddest moments in his life. He began to question the true meaning of love. "What is love?" he asked, and he compared love to a fatal illness and divine monster. He went to Lyons, where he was received as a Freemason. 

   Casanova's freedom ended in 1755 for a year. He was arrested; his manuscripts, books, works on magic, and Arentino's book on sexual positions were seized. Casanova was denounced as a magician and sentenced for five years in lead chambers under the roof of the Doge's Palace. The dungeons is extremely hot. He managed to escape with his friend, Father Balbi. Casanova made his way to Paris, where his escape made him a celebrity. Like Dostoevsky later on, Casanova was a gambler and in 1757 he introduced the lottery. This invention made him a millionaire. He also established a workshop for manufacturing printed silk, hiring twenty young girls to do the work.

   Once more impoverished, Casanova ended his days as the librarian to the Count of Waldstein in the castle of Dux, Bohemia (now Duchcov, Czech Republic). He died on June 4, 1798, aged 73, almost forgotten.  Among his last lady friend was Cecile von Roggendorf, a twenty-two-year-old canoness, and Elise von der Recke, who sent him soup and wine.

I have felt in my very blood, ever since I was born, a most unconquerable hatred towards the whole tribe of fools, and it arises from the fact that I feel myself a blockhead whenever I am in their company. - Giacomo Casanova