1 - Fondamenta De Le Scuole
Teatro San Samuele - Casanova's parent's theatre
There's probably no better place to start the walking tour of Casanova's life than at the theatre where his parents worked before he was born.
To get there, start at the Chiesa di San Vidal church (next to the famous Ponte dell'Accademia wooden bridge over the Grand Canal).
On the right, behind the church, cross the tiny bridge on Calle del Frutarol
Walk under the passageway to another small canal bridge.
Here you will find the Fondamenta De Le Scuole.
This school was built on the spot of the Teatro San Samuele, which was demolished in 1894.
Casanova’s mother, Giovanna Maria “Zanetta” Farussi, was a beautiful leading comic actress at the theatre in 1723, with the stage name “La Buranella", and his legal father, Gaetano Casanova, was a fellow actor there.
Stage actresses in the 18th century were often also seen to be prostitutes and, as a result, young English aristocrats would often make the Grand Tour to Venice to spend time with them. It adds credence to rumours that Giacomo Casanova’s real father could be one of many influential Venetians or English travellers.
Casanova himself believed the rumours that the theatre’s influential owner, Michele Grimani, may actually have been his real father, declaring himself to be the illegitimate son of the Venetian nobleman in his 1782 booklet, Nè amori nè donne; ovvero la stala ripulita (Neither Loves Nor Women, or The Stable Cleaned Out).
The same rumours around his true parentage surrounded Casanova’s three younger brothers and two sisters with comedian Giuseppe Imer and famous Italian theatre director, Carlo Goldoni, both having affairs with Zanetta whilst working at Teatro San Samuele.
Perhaps the most interesting rumour would surround his younger brother, Francesco Giuseppe Casanova, whose real father was strongly rumoured to be the future Prince Of Wales, King George II, who is alleged to have dated the young actress when she performed in London.
The theatre, built in 1655, reappeared later in Casanova's life, in 1746, as he was to briefly play in the orchestra there as a violinist, aged 21. It caught fire a year later and was rebuilt in 1748.
In 1753, as a 28 year old year old, he would take Caterina Capretta to a show at the very same theatre:
“I took a box for the opera seria which was being given at San Samuele, and not bothering to eat dinner, waited for them at the time and place agreed upon. I saw Caterina Capretta, ravishingly beautiful and elegantly masked.”