The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 18: Return to Naples

In Short

This book is a volume of personal memoirs detailing the roving life of an eighteenth-century Italian adventurer as he traverses Italy and France. Through high-stakes card games, casual galanteries, political maneuvers, and quiet acts of charity, the narrative captures the texture of European society on the eve of revolution. It has endured because it provides an unvarnished, intensely human window into the secret rooms, scandal, and daily routines of a vanished era, told by a master storyteller who observes his own failings with the same sharp eye he turns on popes and princes.

The Story

The narrative opens with the protagonist navigating the treacherous, hypocritical world of the Roman clergy and high society. He visits Cardinal Passionei, who openly disparages the Pope, and spends his evenings in the company of artists, monks, and local hosts. Between high-society dinners and gambling, he takes an interest in a young woman named Mariuccia, choosing to fund her marriage through her confessor rather than ruin her. Soon after, he sets out for Naples, where he is taken in by the Duke de Matalone.

In Naples, his life becomes a swirl of high-stakes gambling, aristocratic feasting, and romantic intrigue. He falls deeply in love with Leonilda, a captivating young woman living under the Duke’s protection, and eagerly prepares to marry her. However, a sudden revelation regarding her parentage makes the union impossible. Rather than departing in despair, he turns his attentions to her mother, Donna Lucrezia, rekindling an old passion before ultimately choosing his independence over a settled domestic life in the Kingdom of Naples.

Leaving Naples behind, he travels north toward Rome and Turin. Along the road, he encounters former acquaintances, dodges unwanted travel companions, and engages in wild, decadent late-night debauches with visiting foreign nobles, castrati, and local abbes. Arriving in Turin, he throws himself into new pursuits, attempting to court Leah, the beautiful daughter of a local Jewish horse-dealer, and frequenting fashion shops to win over local seamstresses. When the city’s stern superintendent of police orders him to leave, he refuses to obey, successfully appealing directly to royal ministers to secure his right to remain.

His journeys continue into France as he takes up with a fraudulent companion posing as the Marquis Desarmoises. In Chamberi, he becomes involved in the domestic drama of Desarmoises’s runaway daughter and her injured lover. After helping the young couple, he travels to Lyons, where he forces Desarmoises to give his formal consent to the young woman's marriage. Finally, sending his companion ahead to Strasburg, he arrives in Paris with his valet, ready to resume his ties with wealthy patrons like Madame d'Urfé.

How It Unfolds

Intrigues in Rome The narrator visits Cardinal Passionei, who freely calls the Pope a fool, before spending his evenings playing cards, visiting artist friends like Mengs and Winckelmann, and anonymously providing a dowry for the virtuous Mariuccia.

Arrival in Naples Welcomed into the palace of the Duke de Matalone, he charms the local nobility with quick repartee, views secret libraries, and falls headlong in love with the lovely Leonilda.

Gambling and Revelry Between visits to the opera, he plays high-stakes faro against wealthy noblemen, breaking the bank at Posilipo and navigating the seductive atmosphere of Neapolitan society.

A Sudden Pivot When marriage to Leonilda becomes impossible, he turns his devotions to her mother, Donna Lucrezia, but ultimately rejects the stability of buying Neapolitan land in favor of his vagabond existence.

The Northern Road Journeying toward Turin, he encounters old flames and traveling companions, pausing at roadside inns and taking part in an outrageously licentious gathering hosted by an English earl.

Defying the Law In Turin, he pursues the horse-dealer’s daughter Leah, buys expensive lace for local shopgirls, and boldly defies an expulsion order from the superintendent of police by appealing to the King's ministers.

Intervening in Chamberi He discovers the lies of his companion Desarmoises, protects Desarmoises’s runaway daughter and her wounded lover, and secures legal consent for their wedding before heading on to Lyons and Paris.

The People

• Don Giacomo (The Narrator) wants freedom, financial gain, and romantic conquest, but his fear of being tied down prevents him from settling, leaving him perpetually on the move.
• Cardinal Passionei wants radical church reform and makes no secret of his contempt for the Pope, remaining sharply cynical toward Vatican politics.
• The Duke de Matalone wants to maintain his aristocratic status and host grand entertainments, acting as a generous patron while hiding his private domestic secrets.
• Leonilda wants a secure, loving future, moving from an eager prospective bride to a accepting daughter when fate intervenes.
• Donna Lucrezia wants happiness and stability, offering the narrator a settled life on a Neapolitan estate, but gracefully accepts his refusal when he chooses the road.
• Desarmoises wants to live off the narrator's wealth while pretending to be a nobleman, but his lies are exposed when his daughter reveals his true identity as a former messenger.

In Its Own Voice

"Unfortunate are they that love the truth, and do not seek it out at its source."

The narrator reflects on the nature of rumor and slander after discovering that a dying cardinal had been falsely accused of refusing confession.

"So pleasant is it to do good, that now when I have nothing left the remembrance of the happiness I have given to others at small cost is almost the only pleasure I enjoy."

Looking back from a impoverished old age, the author recalls the quiet satisfaction of leaving money on a poor family's table.

"Pride is the daughter of folly, and always keeps its mother's nature."

The narrator offers a characteristic maxim on human vanity after being slighted by an arrogant prince in Rome.

What It's Really About

Behind the theatrical flair and romantic conquests, the narrative is an exploration of personal liberty and the costs of self-invention. The author portrays a world governed by rigid class structures, religious hypocrisy, and arbitrary authority, yet he constantly finds cracks in the system where an individual with enough wit, cash, and nerve can carve out his own independence. It examines the tension between the desire for domestic affection and the irresistible pull of absolute freedom, showing how a life lived entirely on one's own terms leads to both thrilling adventures and an isolated, unmoored existence in old age.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy vivid, unvarnished history, sharp character sketches, and cinematic memoirs of the eighteenth century will find themselves thoroughly absorbed. Reading this book feels like sitting in an inn late at night with a wildly entertaining, slightly disreputable raconteur who knows every secret in town and isn't afraid to share them.

The prose is swift, direct, and free of sentimental moralizing, offering an extraordinary tour of European inns, gaming tables, and private boudoirs. It does carry period difficulties: the endless procession of minor aristocrats, local currencies, and vintage gambling terms like "punting" and "faro" can initially feel bewildering. Furthermore, modern readers will have to navigate historical attitudes toward sex, age, and social class that can be deeply uncomfortable. Yet, for those willing to accept the author as he was, the text remains an astonishingly fresh, candid portrait of human nature in all its generosity, vanity, and endless complexity.