Giovanni Giacomo Casanova

Born Apr. 2, 1725, in Venice; died June 4, 1798, in Dux Castle, in Bohemia. Italian writer and memoirist.

Casanova led a stormy life, traveling all over Europe and often being imprisoned. He is the author of several historical works and a fantasy novel, Icosameron (1788). The History of My Flight (1788) was part of his posthumously published Memoirs (1st ed., in German, translated from the original French; parts 1–12, 1822–28). Casanova’s memoirs are extraordinarily candid about his intimate life and present penetrating observations on the social mores of his time and a sober evaluation of historical events.