Love and Legend
How Many Women Did Casanova Have? What the Memoirs Say
Nobody knows exactly. Readers who count the women in the Memoirs usually arrive at roughly 120 to 130, and 122 is the figure quoted most often. We found no total in the English text itself, and many encounters are described only briefly or under changed names, so any number is an estimate.
"How many lovers did Casanova have?" is the question people ask first. The honest answer is that the famous figure is a count made by readers, not a number Casanova himself puts on the page, and it is less solid than it looks.
Where does the number come from?
The figures you will see online fall into three groups:
- About 120 to 130. This is the range most often given by biographers and reviewers who count the women in the Memoirs. A figure of 122 is the one that gets repeated most.
- 150 or more. Some writers go higher. One New York Review of Books piece gives "at least 150".
- 200 or more. This appears mainly in publishers' blurbs and popular articles, and we could not trace it to a documented count.
We looked for a stated total in the English text in this app and did not find one. Where a figure is described as "his own count", it appears to be a reader's tally of the women named in his story.
Why is any number uncertain?
- Many encounters are brief. Some women appear in a single paragraph, others across several volumes. Whether a passing encounter counts is a judgment call.
- Names were changed. The first French editor, Jean Laforgue, altered the names of some of the people in the Memoirs or replaced them with initials. The preface to the English edition, written by Arthur Symons, describes this. Casanova also left out some adventures himself. In his Author's Preface he writes: "All my adventures are not to be found in these Memoirs; I have left out those which might have offended the persons who have played a sorry part therein."
- The Memoirs are a self-portrait. Casanova wrote them in his seventies. Even supporters of the Memoirs accept that some stories are shaped for effect.
More than a list
If you read the Memoirs, the list is not the main impression. A few women matter a great deal in the story:
- Henriette, whom he meets in Cesena and later in Geneva, is the love he never stopped thinking about. Late in the Memoirs he writes: "No, I have not forgotten her; for even now, when my head is covered with white hair, the recollection of her is still a source of happiness for my heart."
- Manon Balletti in Paris and Esther in Amsterdam are among those who appear in the app's encounters.
- La Charpillon in London is the opposite case. Symons calls her "the harpy by whom Casanova suffered so much" in 1763 and 1764.
Casanova is also frank about his own priorities. In the Author's Preface: "The chief business of my life has always been to indulge my senses; I never knew anything of greater importance. I felt myself born for the fair sex, I have ever loved it dearly, and I have been loved by it as often and as much as I could."
Did these women exist?
Symons examined Casanova's papers at Dux in 1899 and found letters from women to him. He concluded that they "show us the women of Casanova writing to him with all the fervour and all the fidelity which he attributes to them." That does not confirm every episode, but it does suggest that the Memoirs are not pure invention.
Read the women of the Memoirs for yourself
Henriette, Manon, the Charpillon and many more. Browse the full text by episode, in your browser or in the app.
A word on modern readers
The Memoirs were written in the 18th century and some scenes will trouble modern readers. A number of the women are very young by today's standards, and some encounters involve pressure or deception. A review in the New York Review of Books makes the same point, and notes that Casanova tended to describe women as younger than they were. It is worth reading the book as a historical source and not as a guide to behaviour.
Sources
- Casanova, Memoirs, Author's Preface, and the appendix "Last Days at Dux" (English translation in this app)
- Arthur Symons, "Casanova at Dux" (preface in this app)
- Giacomo Casanova, The New York Review of Books
Read the women of the Memoirs for yourself
Henriette, Manon, the Charpillon and many more. Browse the full text by episode, in your browser or in the app.
Related questions
Casanova vs Don Juan: What's the Difference?Casanova was a real man who wrote his own story. Don Juan is a fictional seducer who is punished for his crimes. Here is how they differ, and the Mozart link.
Was Casanova Real? Is His Memoir Reliable?Casanova was a real person, and archives confirm much of the Memoirs. Here is the evidence, the early doubts, and where to be careful.