(Venice, 2.4.1725 – Duchcov, 4.6.1798)

The Venetian Giacomo Casanova arrived in Padua in 1734 at the age of 9, where he studied and immediately showed his brilliant mind. In Padua, he also took his first steps in what will later be regarded as his most famous career, that is being a seducer.

The documents preserved in the historical archives of the University of Padova confirm his enrolment in 1737 and his attendance certificates of 1739. “I spent another year in Padua studying law, a subject in which I then graduated at sixteen”, the Venetian narrates. In 1939, however, Casanova had to leave the city to go to Venice to pursue the ecclesiastical career. The following year he received the tonsure and in 1741 took his vows. As to whether Casanova actually graduated, the doubts are fairly well founded as there is no document to support his claims.

Regardless of the successful or unsuccessful completion of his studies, the university chapter in Casanova’s life is still full of lively stories of a rather hectic daily life, which allowed him to apply himself to “the great book of experience”. He then became one of those students who were part of “a wild youth who just wanted to satisfy their own whims, have fun and joke“. Giacomo Casanova certainly did not shy away from it, rather he incessantly sought out this lifestyle, perfectly fitting the clothes of the character that he sewed upon himself, becoming one of those “debauchees, seducers of honest girls”, to then become a myth in virtue of culture, luck and boldness.