11 - Carlo Goldini’s House
Casa di Goldini - Home to the famous playwright and friend of Casanova’s mother
We catch the Gondola Traghetto across the Grand Canal (the locals stand for the crossing), landing at Gondola Traghetto di San Tomà...
Continue along the Calle del Traghetto, turning right over the small bridge.
Follow the narrow street around the corners, turning left at the end.
Turn left on to Calle dei Nomboli.
The first house on your left is Casa di Carlo Goldoni, the house in which Venice’s most successful and beloved playwright and poet, Carlo Goldoni, was born in 1707 and lived until 1719, four years before Casanova was born. Today it is an interesting museum dedicated to his life.
A close friend of Casanova’s mother, Zanetta, Goldoni wrote the short comedy for her, La Pupilla (The Female Ward), inspired by the jealous infatuation she had aroused in fellow actor Giuseppe Imer (Teresa’s father), whom she would have an affair whilst performing in Verona. He would later mention the “very pretty and a very able widow” in his memoirs, leading to speculation that he might also be Casanova’s real father.
Goldoni’s 1743 play Il servitore di due padroni (‘Servant of Two Masters’), was adapted into the 2011 West End and Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors starring James Corden.
Today the palace is a museum with scenery settings built around some of Goldoni’s famous plays.