Category: Venice, Murano & surroundings

The night between 31 October and 1 November 1756, Casanova, the greatest seducer of all time, finally succeeded in escaping from the Piombi (the prisons in the Ducal Palace), where he had been locked up for about a year, charged with heresy, blasphemy and possession of prohibited books, as well as the infamous accusation of having seduced married women. His escape, which he himself recounted in the book “My escape from the Piombi”, was one of the most spectacular in history. He owed the success of his escape to the clamour of one of the countless festivals held in the Piazza San Marco. Once he had opened a hole in the ceiling of his cell, he climbed onto the roof and from there looked out onto his beloved Venice: its hundreds of tiny islands connected by little wooden bridge, the cupolas of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, the Bell Tower, the Rialto Bridge, the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute and the Grand Canal, enlivened with gondoliers.