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fascinating. For instance, Casanova (who was without a doubt a real historical person):

- arrested by the Venetian Inquisition and locked up in the infamous Piombi prison, from which no one ever left alive, nor had there ever been an escape--until Casanova, who spent months digging a tunnel, at the end of which he lowered himself, by ropes and sheets, onto a gondola

- after fleeing Venice while in Paris, he helped establish a lottery to finance the École militaire; Napoleon Bonaparte was one of its first students, who conquered Venice several years later

- an advisor to Catherine the Great (she was not one of his conquests though)

- he was a prolific writer, whose works include a five-volumne science-fiction novel (Icosameron, 1788)

the author is Laurence Bergreen and the post is excerpted from his recently published biography of Casanova.

Most of it is in other summary articles, but not the part about almost moving to the US.