What does the word ‘Casanova’ mean to you? Most probably, you recognise it as an established term in the English language to mean lover, usually promiscuous and unscrupulous, and you have some idea that the term derives from the name of a man. A character in a book of old, perhaps?

In fact, Casanova was no character, but a writer: the book for which he is remembered is Storia della mia vita, an autobiography: the writer is his character. The book is rich in detail of the social life of Europeans in the eighteenth century, and as such is widely appreciated by historians. But it is another element that most lodged itself in the collective consciousness: Casanova’s frank accounts of his seduction of women, often elaborate, usually leading to complications.

Giacomo Casanova was born in 1725 inVeniceto actor parents, at a time whenVenicewas ‘the pleasure capital ofEurope’. He grew up in the flamboyant art scene, shaped by the Carnival and the many gambling houses and courtesans. But despite his growing love for gambling, Casanova was no dropout – between the ages of 12 and 17 he attended theUniversityofPadau, and he graduated with a degree in law. For some time he ran his own practice, but the further he climbed in society, under the wing of his patron, the more society itself became the object of his interest – and especially the pretty, flirtatious women batting their eyes at the tall, attractive, well-turned-out young man. Soon enough, he was a ‘professional gambler’ and a notorious ladies’ man, which would lead him on a bed-hopping path aroundEurope. He ended his days inBohemia, and spent his final years lonely and gloomy, penning his memoirs.

The autobiography, which uncut totalled 12 volumes, begins:

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.

Whether readers since have laughed at him, or with him, or simply been appalled by his scrapes, Giacomo Casanova has become one of the most famous Venetians who ever lived, and he is inextricably linked to the romance of his home city. I thought of him often as I wrote my own love story set in Venice. But as for my hero, Paolo – there is no Casanova in him.