It was a humble barmaid who made the deepest impression on the Italian adventurer
Sara Goudar was more than just a pretty face. She went on to publish several books on the cultural life of Italy.
Goudar had already introduced him to “the most famous courtesans in London, and especially the illustrious Kitty Fischer, who was then starting to go out of fashion”.Far away, so close – Fionnuala Ward on measuring distance As for the husband, by then in his early 50s, Goudar may have been motivated less by romance than by his young wife’s potential to help him rise in the world.
When that plan was abandoned, the couple went to Italy where, under Goudar’s instruction, Sarah instead became a lover to Ferdinand, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies. The world, meanwhile, was beating a path to her door. In less than 15 minutes, Casanova watched her greet “five or six ladies of the first rank, and ten or twelve dukes, princes, marquesses, along with visitors from every nation”.
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