Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano (literally "Childhood, Vocation, and First Experience of Giacomo Casanova, Venetian", internationally released as Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence and "Casanova: His Youthful Years") is a 1969 Italian comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. It tells of the youth named Casanova, who, after an unhappy childhood and early ecclesiastical activity in Venice, became an abbot and abandoned his vocation for the love of a countess. Despite the plot, more than a portrait of Casanova, the film wants to be a vivid fresco of the Venetian society of
Giacomo Casanova is a fool". Verbal communication is essential—"without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds"—but words of love must be implied, not boldly proclaimed. Mutual consent is important, according to Casanova, but he avoided easy conquests or overly difficult situations as not suitable for his purposes. Casanova valued intelligence in a woman: "After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms." His attitude towards educated women, however, was an unfavorable one: "In a woman learning is out of place; it compromises the