The Memoirs

Casanova's History of My Life: Summary and Reading Guide

By Andreas, Frenk Development UG · Updated 2026-10-30 · 2 min read

Masked gamblers at a card table in the Ridotto, the gambling salon of 18th-century Venice — Illustration generated for the app

Short answer

History of My Life is Giacomo Casanova's autobiography, written in French near the end of his life. It follows him from his birth in Venice in 1725 through adventures in Naples, Paris, Switzerland, London, Russia and Spain, and it ends around 1774.

Casanova's History of My Life (Histoire de ma vie) is better known for its reputation than for its contents. It is not only a list of love affairs. It is a huge, detailed autobiography of an 18th-century adventurer who was, at different times, a student, a clergyman, a soldier, a violinist, a gambler, a spy, a lottery organiser and a prisoner.

What is it, in short?

Casanova wrote the Memoirs in French in his last years, when he was working as a librarian in the castle at Dux in Bohemia. The story follows his life from his birth in Venice in 1725 and stops in the 1770s. His later years are covered by letters and documents that editors have added as an appendix, including the app's appendix on his return to Venice, his time in Vienna and Paris, and his last days at Dux.

Along the way he meets many of the famous people of his age. Summaries of the book mention Voltaire, Louis XV, Rousseau and Catherine the Great.

Volume by volume

The English text in this app is divided into six volumes and 30 episodes. The volume titles below are the app's.

Volume 1: Venetian Years. His childhood in Venice, his time as a cleric in Naples, a short military career, his return to Venice, and Milan and Mantua.

Volume 2: To Paris and Prison. Paris, Venice again, convent affairs, a false nun, and his imprisonment Under the Leads, ending with the escape. This volume has the most famous section of the book.

Volume 3: The Eternal Quest. Paris and Holland, a return to Paris, Holland and Germany, Switzerland, and his visit to Voltaire.

Volume 4: Adventures in the South. Departure from Switzerland, a return to Italy and to Naples, back to Paris, and Milan.

Volume 5: In London and Moscow. The south of France, London, the English, his flight from London to Berlin, and Russia and Poland.

Volume 6: Spanish Passions. Spain, his expulsion from Spain, a return to Rome, and Florence to Trieste.

Where should you start?

For the most famous story, read the escape in Volume 2: How Casanova escaped from the Leads.
For the full arc, start at Chapter I. It opens with Casanova's family history and his childhood in Venice.
For a sense of the age, try the Voltaire episode in Volume 3 or the Russia and Poland episode in Volume 5.

Read it from the beginning, or jump in

Browse the full text by volume and episode, in your browser or in the app.

Read it in your browser App Store Google Play

Is it reliable?

Scholars generally treat the Memoirs as broadly reliable on people, places and events, which many researchers have been able to check against other records, while accepting that Casanova embellished, shifted dates and improved his own role. The intimate details are impossible to verify. Most readers treat the book as a vivid personal account of its time and not as a neutral record.