The myth of Casanova has endured for more than 200 years. Born in 1725, he was abandoned by his actress mother and brought up by his maternal grandmother. He almost went into the priesthood but soon realised that his vocation lay in a different direction: the pursuit of pleasure and women.
For Valentine's Day Lara Corner travelled to Venice to find out more about the world's most famous lover. She spoke to the Venetian writer, Barbara Zolezzi, but first met the author of Carnevale Michelle Lovric in the Calle Malipiero outside the house in which Casanova was born.
Michelle Lovric's novels about Venice: The Floating Book and Carnevale published by Virago, and of the anthology Venice: Tales of the City, published by Little Brown L'Avogador e i delitti della Vera da Pozzo by Barbara A.Zolezzi and Angelo Maresca, published by Edizioni Interculturali
