Giacomo Casanova, always ready to challenge conventions, wrote a pamphlet in 1782 titled Neither Love nor Women, or the Stable Cleared Out. In this bold work, he claimed to be the natural son of the patrician Michele Grimani and accused the legitimate heir, Giovan Carlo Grimani, of having no rightful claim to the family name, as he had been conceived by his mother with another man.
The declaration caused an unprecedented scandal. The Grimani, one of the most powerful families in Venice, were furious, and the situation became even more explosive given that Giovan Carlo was married to Princess Maria Virginia Chigi, a highly prominent name among Roman and Venetian patricians.
Curiously, Ca’ Grimani, frequented by Casanova in his youth, retains a trace of his passage: an inscription on a column that reads “W Casano.” This graffiti seems to celebrate the libertine adventurer, leaving a silent echo of his time in the Grimani family residence.
Lorenzo Morosini, aware of the imminent danger, advised Casanova to leave Venice immediately. This time, unlike twenty-seven years earlier, Giacomo heeded the advice and prepared to flee. With the weight of scandal and the wrath of one of Venice’s most influential families upon him, Casanova left Venice forever in 1782, closing a turbulent and definitive chapter of his life in the lagoon city.
