A provocative memoir that made history

The 18th Century Venetian's name is synonymous with sexual adventure. But Casanova's renowned writings reveal a more complex character, writes Hephzibah Anderson.

Casanova is code for cad, rake and roue. A 'Casanova' is the consummate pick-up artist, a sexual adventurer of the type who was swiping right, metaphorically speaking at least, long before your mobile phone became a singles' bar.

Above all, a Casanova is not to be believed - he's the kind of guy who'll say anything to get a girl into bed (and yes, he calls women 'girls' - either that or 'ladies', with a lothario's leering emphasis on the first syllable).

It's little wonder, then, that we tend to forget Casanova was a real person who wined, dined and bedded his way around 18th-Century Europe, retiring to write about his exploits in X-rated detail.

But that's only half the story.

The myth that gave birth to the noun, it turns out, isn't really his creation at all.

Moreover, the legacy that he can truly claim as his own is at once less titillating and markedly more fascinating, speaking directly to the heart of how we tell the stories of our own lives and loves in the 21st Century.

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725, back when the city was a hotbed of vice, famed for its gambling, its courtesans and its carnival.

There's a reason it was such an essential stop for well-to-do youths set loose on their Grand Tours, and it didn't have much to do with St Mark's Basilica.

Casanova's parents were lowly theatre folk, and at nine, he was sent away from the island to Padua, where he lived with his tutor, whose daughter was responsible for Casanova's first erotic experience.

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