Venice: the adventures of Giacomo Casanova

He left Venice in January 1783 and headed for Vienna. For a while, he acted as secretary to the Venetian ambassador Sebastiano Foscarini; then, on the latter’s death, he accepted a position as librarian in the castle of the Count of Waldstein in Dux, Bohemia, in today’s Czech Republic. There he spent the last sorrowful years of his life, mocked by servants, now misunderstood, and considered the relic of an era gone forever.

As Dux, Casanova had to witness the French Revolution, the fall of the Venetian Republic, and the collapse of his world, or at least of that world he had dreamed of belonging permanently. In addition to the numerous letters from Venetian friends who kept him abreast of what was happening in his city, his last comfort was the composition of “Histoire de ma vie”. This autobiographical work absorbed all his remaining energies and was completed with indefatigable fury as a final effort to make his days glorious before death. Writing it, Casanova relived a truly unrepeatable life, so much so that he entered the myth, in the collective imagination, a “work of art” life. He died on June 4, 1798, and it is assumed that the body was buried in the small church of Santa Barbara near the castle of Dux. But regarding the problem of correctly identifying Giacomo Casanova’s burial place, reports are still somewhat vague, and there are, at present, only incorrectly documented hypotheses. Traditionally, it was believed that he was buried in the cemetery of the small church adjoining Waldstein Castle, but proofs are still yet to be confirmed.

Thus ended the life of Giacomo Casanova, the man whose ingenuity, adventures, and obscenity made his name a proper world symbol.