Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote three brilliant libretti for Mozart - Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro - to which plot and counterplot are central. They were also the substance of Da Ponte's own extraordinary life. From the canals of Venice to the streets of New York, Da Ponte ran the gamut of intrigues, meeting a host of remarkable men in the process. Priest, professional gambler, court poet, impresario, proprietor of a bordello and grocery store and the first professor of Italian literature at Colombia University, Lorenzo Da Ponte's life (1749-1838) was led and documented with unfailing flair.