Giacomo Casanova is remembered chiefly as the eighteenth century’s great adventurer and libertine, but the real Casanova was a more complicated figure: intellectual, traveller, gambler, diplomat, and inveterate observer of human desire.

In 1744 the nineteen-year-old Casanova encountered Bellino, a beautiful young singer whom he initially believed to be a castrato. Intrigued by Bellino’s ambiguous appearance and increasingly captivated by the singer, Casanova set out to discover the truth, coming to learn that Bellino is in fact Teresa, a young woman who has adopted a male identity in order to pursue a career on the stage.

In Mazzotti’s graphic novel, the first of a series based on Casanova’s exploits, he explores Casanova’s fascination with sexual ambiguity and his obsessive attempt to penetrate Bellino’s disguise, revealing a complex mixture of erotic attraction, disguise and emotional attachment. The colour illustrations showcase Mazzotti’s mature style, with period detail and Venetian architecture carefully researched and depicted alongside his trademark explicit sexual encounters.

The text adaptation is by Silvio Andrei, who also contributes a detailed set of notes about Casanova and the Bellino episode at the end of the book. The historical background is generally sound, with identifications including Cardinal B, Madame Orio and the true identity of Teresa presented as possibilities rather than established facts. However, and to nitpick a little, the statement that the events in question occurred on Ascension Day, 3 March 1742, is clearly erroneous, since the Casanova episode is dated to May 1742 and Ascension Day that year was on 7 May.

Mémoires de Casanova 1: Bellino, is published by Delcourt.