Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice on April 2, 1725. The name Casanova is synonymous with scandal and the art of temptation. At the age of sixteen, Casanova earned his doctorate in law at the university of Padua. As a prospective priest, he fell drunk from the pulpit in San Samuele on March 19, 1741, which effectively ended his ecclesiastical career. In 1755, he was arrested on alleged charges of "blasphemy against the holy Religion." His escape from the leaden chambers of Venice 15 months later brought much public attention. In 1760, Casanova visited Voltaire in Geneva. He lived for nine months in St. Petersburg in 1765 and met Catharine the Great twice. His exile ended when he returned to Venice in 1772. He acted as a secret agent for the Venice State Inquisition as of 1776. Casanova probably met Mozart in Prague in 1787. Casanova died in Dux on June 4, 1798.