Casanova: Seduction and Genius in Venice

Giacomo Casanova was a mixed product of both the Enlightenment and the culture of sensuality and indulgence of his native Venice. Today his name is synonymous with “great lover”—and for good reason. Over the course of his lifetime Casanova claimed to have seduced scores of women. But the full story of his life is much less well-known.

Laurence Bergreen’s new biography Casanova: the World of a Seductive Genius follows Casanova from his impoverished childhood in Venice, through his meteoric rise to world-famous writer and notorious libertine who wound up “consorting with the most beautiful women and the greatest minds of his day” to his humble death as an embittered librarian in a Bohemian castle. In between, Casanova wrote possibly the world’s most famous autobiography, became the only person to escape from the notoroius I Piombi prison, devised a national lottery in France that endures to this day, helped to inspire Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and slept with 122 women by his own count, including his own daughter.

To recount the unparalleled history of sex and intrigue that is the life of Giacomo Casanova, Bergreen will be joined by author and psychosexual therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who has said, “To all those who seem to think sex was invented in their lifetime, I suggest they take a look back in time and see if they can’t learn a thing or two from a true master.” They will speak with Emily Witt, author of Future Sex, which was named one of Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year for 2016.

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Registration does not guarantee admission. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. All registered seats are released 15 minutes before start time, so we recommend that you arrive early.

An accompaniment to the Love in Venice exhibit, which opens at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on February 10, 2017, and runs through August 26, 2017