Ian Kelly on Venice: ‘Casanova’s story takes you to the city's best views'

The Casanova biographer, whose work has inspired a new ballet, finds plenty of traces of the 18th-century lothario amid the city’s canals, bars and alleyways

Writers from Casanova to Byron and Ezra Pound say you should approach Venice by sea. That’s not always practical but taking a water taxi from Marco Polo airport is also a stunningly beautiful way to arrive. My advice: check in, check out, and wander. Even Venetians get lost in Venice. Around every corner there may be another wondrous vista, another exquisite church. Or bar.

I was asked to write the scenario for a ballet based on my biography of Giacomo Casanova by Northern Ballet choreographer Kenneth Tindall. I took about two seconds to say yes.

Gritti's cocktails were once the tipple of prostitutes, and now are sipped by nice girls. Casanova would approve of both