Editing Alessandro Cagliostro

{{Short description|Italian occultist (1743–1795)}}
{{distinguish|Cogliostro}}
{{redirect|Cagliostro|the films|Cagliostro (1929 film)|and|Cagliostro (1975 film)}}
{{redirect|Count Cagliostro|the fictional character|The Castle of Cagliostro}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Count Alessandro di Cagliostro
| image              = Portrait of Giuseppe Balsamo (called Count Alessandro Cagliostro) LACMA 62.18 (1 of 2).jpg
| caption            = Bust by [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]], c. 1786
| other_names        = Joseph Balsamo
| birth_name         = Giuseppe Balsamo
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1743|6|2}}
| birth_place        = [[Albergaria (Palermo)|Albergheria]], [[Palermo]], [[Kingdom of Sicily]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1795|8|26|1743|6|2}}
| death_place        = [[Forte di San Leo]], [[Papal States]]
| nationality        = Italian
| occupation         = Occultist, adventurer, magician, confidence trickster
}}
{{Freemasonry}}
'''Giuseppe Balsamo''' ({{IPA|it|dʒuˈzɛppe ˈbalsamo|lang}}; 2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795), known by the alias '''Count Alessandro di Cagliostro''' ({{IPAc-en|US|k|ɑː|l|ˈ|j|ɔː|s|t|r|oʊ|,_|k|æ|l|-}} {{respell|ka(h)l|YAW|stroh}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/cagliostro|title=Cagliostro|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=19 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Cagliostro|access-date=19 February 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|it|alesˈsandro kaʎˈʎɔstro|lang}}), was an Italian [[occultist]] and confidence trickster.

Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]]. He became a glamorous figure associated with the royal courts of Europe where he pursued various occult arts, including [[psychic healing]], [[alchemy]], and [[scrying]]. His reputation lingered for many decades after his death but continued to deteriorate, as he came to be regarded as a charlatan and impostor, this view fortified by the savage attack of [[Thomas Carlyle]] (1795–1881) in 1833, who pronounced him the "Quack of Quacks". Later works—such as that of W. R. H. Trowbridge (1866–1938) in his ''Cagliostro: the Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic'' (1910), attempted a rehabilitation.

==Biography==
===Origin===
The history of Cagliostro is shrouded in rumour, propaganda, and [[mysticism]]. Some effort was expended to ascertain his true identity when he was arrested because of possible participation in the [[Affair of the Diamond Necklace]]. [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] relates in his ''[[Italian Journey]]'' that the identification of Cagliostro with Giuseppe Balsamo was ascertained by a lawyer from Palermo who, upon official request, had sent a dossier with copies of the pertinent documents to France. Goethe met the lawyer in April 1787 and saw the documents and Balsamo's pedigree: Balsamo's great-grandfather Matteo Martello had two daughters: Maria, who married Giuseppe Bracconeri; and Vincenza, who married Giuseppe Cagliostro. Maria and Giuseppe Bracconeri had three children: Matteo; Antonia; and Felicità, who married Pietro Balsamo (the son of a bookseller, Antonino Balsamo, who had declared bankruptcy before dying at age 44). The son of Felicità and Pietro Balsamo was Giuseppe, who was christened with the name of his great-uncle and eventually adopted his surname, too. Felicità Balsamo was still alive in Palermo at the time of Goethe's travels in Italy, and he visited her and her daughter. Goethe wrote that Cagliostro was of Jewish origin,<ref>[[Goethe|Italian Journey, p. 205]]</ref> and it may be that the name "Balsamo" comes from the [[hebrew language|hebrew]] [[Baal Shem]] (Cagliostro himself publicly asserted that he was a disciple of Haĩm Falk, the [[Baal Shem of London]]).

Cagliostro himself stated during the trial following the Affair of the Diamond Necklace that he had been born of Christians of noble birth but abandoned as an orphan upon the island of [[Malta]]. He claimed to have travelled as a child to [[Medina]], [[Mecca]], and [[Cairo]] and upon return to Malta to have been admitted to the [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]], with whom he studied [[alchemy]], the [[Kabbalah]], and [[magic (paranormal)|magic]].

===Early life===
Giuseppe Balsamo was born to a poor family in Albergheria, which was once the old Jewish Quarter of [[Palermo]], Sicily. Despite his family's precarious financial situation, his grandfather and uncles made sure the young Giuseppe received a solid education: he was taught by a tutor and later became a novice in the [[Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God|Catholic Order of St. John of God]], from which he was eventually expelled. {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} During his period as a novice in the order, Balsamo learned chemistry as well as a series of spiritual rites. In 1764, when he was twenty-one, he convinced Vincenzo Marano—a wealthy goldsmith—of the existence of a hidden treasure buried several hundred years previously at [[Mount Pellegrino]]. The young man's knowledge of the occult, Marano reasoned, would be valuable in preventing the duo from being attacked by magical creatures guarding the treasure. In preparation for the expedition to Mount Pellegrino, however, Balsamo requested seventy pieces of silver from Marano.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

When the time came for the two to dig up the supposed treasure, Balsamo attacked Marano, who was left bleeding and wondering what had happened to the boy—in his mind, the beating he had been subjected to had been the work of [[djinn]]s. {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} The next day, Marano paid a visit to Balsamo's house in via Perciata (since then renamed via Conte di Cagliostro), where he learned the young man had left the city. Balsamo (accompanied by two accomplices) had fled to the city of [[Messina, Italy|Messina]]. By 1765–66, Balsamo found himself on the island of Malta, where he became an auxiliary (''donato'') for the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and a skilled pharmacist. {{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

===Travels===
[[File:Seraphinia Feliciani.jpg|thumb|Lorenza Seraphina Feliciani, his wife]]
[[File:Germania, 1882 1020213 (4359093810).jpg|thumb|19th-century illustration of a Cagliostro performance in [[Dresden]]]]
In early 1768 Balsamo left for Rome, where he managed to land himself a job as a secretary to Cardinal Orsini.<ref>The cardinal in question would have been Domenico Orsini d'Aragona (1719–1789), nephew of [[Pope Benedict XIII]]. [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1743.htm#Orsini Miranda, "Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church"].</ref> The job proved boring to Balsamo and he soon started leading a double life, selling magical "Egyptian" amulets and engravings pasted on boards and painted over to look like paintings.<ref name=iain>[[Iain McCalman]]: ''The Seven Ordeals of Count Cagliostro'', 2004: Flamingo (Australia) and Random House (UK); published in the US as ''The Last Alchemist'' by HarperCollins.</ref> Of the many Sicilian expatriates and ex-convicts he met during this period, one introduced him to a fourteen-year-old girl named Lorenza Seraphina Feliciani (ca. 8 April 1751 – 1794), known as ''Serafina'', whom he married 1768.

The couple moved in with Lorenza's parents and her brother in the vicolo delle Cripte, adjacent to the strada dei Pellegrini.<ref name=iain/> Balsamo's coarse language and the way he incited Lorenza to display her body contrasted deeply with her parents' deep-rooted religious beliefs. After a heated discussion, the young couple left. At this point, Balsamo befriended Agliata, a forger and swindler, who proposed to teach Balsamo how to forge letters, diplomas and myriad other official documents. In return, Agliata sought sexual intercourse with Balsamo's young wife, a request to which Balsamo acquiesced.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/count_cagliostro.html
 |title=Count Cogliostro – Alchemist who could turn people into gold
 |access-date=22 September 2008
 |last=Wilson
 |first=Pip
 |publisher=Wilson's Almanac
 |url-status = dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908044135/http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/count_cagliostro.html
 |archive-date=8 September 2008
}}</ref>

The couple traveled together to London, where Balsamo, now styling himself with one of several pseudonyms and self-conferred titles before settling on "Count Alessandro di Cagliostro", allegedly met the [[Comte de Saint-Germain]]. Cagliostro traveled throughout Europe, especially to [[Duchy of Courland and Semigallia|Courland]], Russia, Poland, Germany, and later France. His fame grew to the point that he was even recommended as a physician to [[Benjamin Franklin]] during a stay in Paris.

On 12 April 1777, "Joseph Cagliostro" was admitted as a Freemason of the Espérance Lodge No. 289 in Gerrard Street, Soho, London.<ref>See Reinhard Markner: Cagliostro's Initiation: His 1777 Grand Lodge Certificate Rediscovered, in ''The Square,'' Sept. 2019, p. 23. [https://www.academia.edu/40295293/Cagliostro_s_Initiation_His_1777_Grand_Lodge_Certificate_Rediscovered].</ref> In December 1777 Cagliostro and Serafina left London for the mainland, after which they travelled through various German states, visiting lodges of the [[Rite of Strict Observance]] looking for converts to Cagliostro's "[[Rite of Memphis-Misraim|Egyptian Freemasonry]]". In February 1779 Cagliostro traveled to [[Jelgava|Mitau]], (nowadays [[Latvia]]), where he met the poet [[Elisa von der Recke]]. In September 1780, after failing in [[Saint Petersburg]] to win the patronage of Russian [[Tsaritsa]] [[Catherine the Great]], the Cagliostros made their way to [[Strasbourg]], at that time in France. In October 1784, the Cagliostros travelled to [[Lyon]]. On 24 December 1784 they founded the [[Co-Freemasonry|co-Masonic]] mother lodge ''La Sagesse Triomphante'' of his rite of Egyptian Freemasonry at Lyon. In January 1785 Cagliostro and his wife went to Paris in response to the entreaties of [[Cardinal de Rohan|Cardinal Rohan]]. {{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

===Affair of the diamond necklace===
[[File:A Masonic anecdote' (Alessandro, Count of Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo)) by James Gillray.jpg|thumb|Satire on Cagliostro at a Masonic meeting in London in 1786, by [[James Gillray]]]]
Cagliostro was prosecuted in the [[Affair of the Diamond Necklace]] which involved [[Marie Antoinette]] and [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[Prince Louis de Rohan]], and was held in the [[Bastille]] for nine months but finally acquitted, when no evidence could be found connecting him to the affair. Nonetheless, he was banished from France by order of [[Louis XVI]], and departed for England. There he was accused by French expatriate [[Charles Theveneau de Morande|Theveneau de Morande]] of being Giuseppe Balsamo, which he denied in his published ''Open Letter to the English People'', forcing a retraction and apology from Morande.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

===Betrayal, imprisonment, and death===
Cagliostro left England to visit [[Rome]], where he met two people who proved to be spies of the [[Inquisition]]. Some accounts hold that his wife was the one who initially betrayed him to the Inquisition. On 27 December 1789, he was arrested for attempting to found a [[Masonic lodge]] in Rome,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cagliostro-1743-1795| title = Cagliostro (1743-1795) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> and was imprisoned in the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]]. He was tried and originally sentenced to death but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment at the [[Forte di San Leo]], where he would die on 26 August 1795.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alessandro-count-di-Cagliostro|title=Alessandro, count di Cagliostro {{!}} Italian charlatan|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-02-24}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Portuguese author [[Camilo Castelo Branco]] credits to Balsamo the creation of the Egyptian Rite of the Freemasons and intensive work in the diffusion of [[Freemasonry]], by opening lodges all over Europe and by introducing the acceptance of women into the community. The idea of an "Egyptian freemasonry" was maintained in Italy by the Rite of Misraim, founded in 1813 by the three Jewish [[Marc Bédarride|Bédarride brothers]] and in France, the Rite of Memphis founded in 1838 by Jacques Etienne Marconis de Nègre; these unified under [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] as the [[Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm]] in 1881.

Cagliostro was an extraordinary forger. [[Giacomo Casanova]], in his autobiography, narrated an encounter in which Cagliostro was able to forge a letter by Casanova, despite being unable to understand it. Occult historian [[Lewis Spence]] comments in his entry on Cagliostro that the swindler put his [[wikt:finagle|finagled]] wealth to good use by starting and funding a chain of maternity hospitals and orphanages around the continent. He carried an alchemistic manuscript ''[[The Most Holy Trinosophia]]'' amongst others with him on his ill-fated journey to Rome, and it is alleged that he wrote it. Occultist [[Aleister Crowley]] believed Cagliostro was one of his previous [[reincarnation|incarnations]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley |page=[https://archive.org/details/dowhatthouwiltli0000suti/page/269 269] |last=Sutin |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Sutin |year=2000 |publisher=St Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-312-25243-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/dowhatthouwiltli0000suti/page/269 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley |edition=2nd |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dowhatthouwiltli0000suti/page/330 330–331] |last=Kaczynski |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Kaczynski |year=2010 |publisher=North Atlantic Books |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=978-0-312-25243-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/dowhatthouwiltli0000suti/page/330 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
=== Drama ===
* [[Catherine the Great]] wrote two skits lampooning Cagliostro in the guise of characters loosely based upon him.
* [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe]] wrote a comedy based on Cagliostro's life, also in reference to the [[Affair of the Diamond Necklace]], ''The Great Cophta'' (''Der Groß-Coptha'') which was published in 1791.
* Latvian playwright [[Mārtiņš Zīverts]] wrote the play ''Kaļostro Vilcē'' (Cagliostro in [[Vilce Parish|Vilce]]) in 1967.

===Literature===
* [[Alexandre Dumas, père]] used Cagliostro in several of his novels (especially in ''Joseph Balsamo'' and in ''Le Collier de la Reine'' where he claims to be over 3,000 years old and to have known [[Helen of Troy]]).
* [[George Sand]] includes Cagliostro as a minor character in her historical novel, ''The Countess of Rudolstadt'' (1843).
* [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy]] wrote the supernatural love story ''Count Cagliostro'', in which the Count brings to life a long dead Russian princess by materializing her from her portrait. The story was made into a 1984 Soviet TV movie ''[[Formula of Love]]''.
* Cagliostro is featured in three stories by [[Rafael Sabatini]], namely "The Lord of Time", "The Death Mask" and "The Alchemical Egg", which are included in Sabatini's collection ''Turbulent Tales''.
[[File:Daniel Chodowiecki Alessandro Cagliostro 1789.jpg|right|thumb|Cagliostro by [[Daniel Chodowiecki]]]]
* In "[[The Sandman (short story)|The Sandman]]" by [[ETA Hoffmann]]. Spalanzani is said to resemble a portrait of Cagliostro by Chodowiecki.
* In "The Book and the Beast", a short story by [[Robert Arthur, Jr.]], a [[grimoire]] attributed to Cagliostro causes the gruesome death of those foolish enough to examine it, until a fire destroys it.<ref>{{citation|last=Arthur|first=Robert|title=The Book and the Beast|periodical=Weird Tales|year=1943}}. Republished as {{citation|chapter=Mr. Dexter's Dragon|title=Ghosts and More Ghosts|location=New York|publisher=Random House|year=1963}}</ref>
* He is mentioned in the novel ''Kun Lun'' by Kilburn Hall (2014), where it is revealed that Alessandro Cagliostro, Joseph and Giuseppe Balsamo are just a few of the names that the time traveler [[Count of St. Germain|Count St. Germain]] has used throughout history.
* [[Friedrich Schiller]] started, but not finish, the novel ''[[Der Geisterseher]]'' (The Ghost-Seer) between 1786 and 1789, concerning him.
* [[Harry Stephen Keeler]] paid tribute to the magician in his novel ''The Spectacles of Mr. Cagliostro''.
* He is a character in [[Robert Anton Wilson]]'s ''[[The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles]]''.
* He is frequently mentioned [[Umberto Eco]]'s novel ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]''.
* [[Mikhail Kuzmin]] wrote a novella called ''The Marvelous Life of Giuseppe Balsamo, Count Cagliostro'' (1916).
* He is a character in ''[[Psychoshop]]'', a novel by [[Alfred Bester]] and [[Roger Zelazny]].
* [[Josephine Balsamo]], a descendant of Joseph Balsamo who calls herself Countess Cagliostro, appears in [[Maurice Leblanc]]'s ''[[Arsene Lupin]]'' novels.
* Cagliostro makes a number of appearances as a vampire in [[Kim Newman]]'s ''[[Anno Dracula]]'' series of novels.
* There are numerous references to Cagliostro in the detective novel ''[[He Who Whispers]]'' by [[John Dickson Carr]] (aka Carter Dickson), one of his Dr [[Gideon Fell]] mysteries, published by [[Hamish Hamilton]] (UK) & Harper (USA) in 1946. In this book, a French professor, Georges Antoine Rigaud, has written a history: ''Life of Cagliostro''. An attempted murder committed in ''He Who Whispers'' is similar in technique to part of an initiation ceremony undergone by Cagliostro into the lodge of a secret society. Cagliostro Street appears as a location in Carr's 1935 novel ''[[The Hollow Man (Carr novel)|The Hollow Man]]'' (published in the US as ''The Three Coffins'').
* He is a character in the 1997 novel 'Superstition' by David Ambrose. He is an acquaintance of the fictional Adam Wyatt.
* He is often mentioned in the novel ''Napoleon's Pyramids'' by [[William Dietrich (novelist)|William Dietrich]] in connection with Freemasons and ancient Egyptian artifacts.
* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Glory Road]]'', Star uses "Balsamo" as an alias, and refers to Giuseppe as her uncle.
* [[William Bolitho Ryall]]'s ''Twelve Against The Gods'' has a section on Cagliostro.

===Comics===
* ''[[The Phantom]]'' [[comic book]] (based on a comic strip of the same name) featured Cagliostro as a character in the story "The Cagliostro Mystery" from 1988. written by Norman Worker and drawn by Carlos Cruz.
* The third ''[[Kid Eternity]]'' [[comic book]], published in 1946, featured Cagliostro's risen spirit.
* In the [[DC Comics]] universe, Cagliostro is described as an [[Immortality|immortal]] ([[JLA (comic book)|JLA]] Annual 2), a descendant of [[Leonardo da Vinci]] as well as an ancestor of [[Zatara]] and [[Zatanna]] (''[[Secret Origins]]'' 27).
* In [[Marvel Comics]]' ''[[Tomb of Dracula]]'' and ''[[Dracula Lives]]'' comic books, Cagliostro is a frequent enemy of Dracula.  In ''[[Iron Man]]'' #149, Cagliostro trains [[Doctor Doom|Dr. Doom]] in sorcery.
* The manga ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' gives Count Cagliostro as one of many aliases adopted by the legendary dollmaker Rozen. He was shown to be in prison whittling wood.
* He is a character in [[Todd McFarlane]]'s comic book [[Spawn (comics)|''Spawn'']]. He was introduced to the series by writer [[Neil Gaiman]]. Here, Cogliostro was once a spawn of Hell bound to his duty to the daemon [[Malebolgia]]. Having freed himself of the curse through alchemy and sorcery, he is teaching Spawn to do the same throughout the series.

===Video games===
* Cagliostro is the namesake of a playable character in the Japanese Mobile game ''[[Granblue Fantasy]]''.
* ''[[Payday 2]]'' by Overkill and Starbreeze studios features Cagliostro's manuscript as a key story item and opens a deep mystery within the game involving secret societies, immortality and nephilims.
* Cagliostro is a villain in the [[Spiders (company)|Spiders]] video game ''[[Steelrising]]''. His penchant for magic and alternative medicine is referenced; for example, in one scene, he is shown practicing [[hypnosis]] with a pendulum.
* Cagliostro is featured in ''[[Fate/Grand Order]]'' as a Pretender-class servant.
* Cagliostro appears as an opponent in the card cheating game ''[[Card Shark]]''.

=== Music ===
* He appears as a principal character in the 1794 opera ''[[Le congrès des rois]]'', a collaborative work of 12 composers.
* The French composer [[Victor Dourlen]] (1780–1864) composed the first act to ''Cagliostro, ou Les illuminés'' which premiered on 27 November 1810. The second and third acts were composed by [[Anton Reicha]] (1770–1836).<ref>David Charlton: "Dourlen, Victor-Charles-Paul", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref><ref>Peter Eliot Stone: "Reicha [Rejcha], Antoine(-Joseph) [Antonín, Anton]", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* The Irish composer [[William Michael Rooke]] (1794–1847) wrote an unperformed work ''Cagliostro''.<ref>[[William Henry Husk|W. H. Husk]]/W. H. Grattan Flood/George Biddlecombe: "Rooke [O'Rourke, Rourke], William Michael", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* [[Adolphe Adam]] wrote the [[opéra comique]] ''Cagliostro'' which premiered on 10 February 1844.<ref>[[Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist)|Elizabeth Forbes]]: "Adam, Adolphe", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* [[Albert Lortzing]] wrote in 1850 the libretto for a comic opera in three acts, ''Cagliostro'', but did not compose any music for it.<ref>Clive Brown: "Lortzing, Albert", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* [[Johann Strauss II|Johann Strauß (Sohn)]] wrote the [[operetta]] ''[[Cagliostro in Wien]]'' (Cagliostro in Vienna) in 1875.
* The French composer [[Claude Terrasse]] (1867–1923) wrote ''Le Cagliostro'' which premiered in 1904.<ref>David Charlton/Cormac Newark: "Terrasse, Claude (Antoine)", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* The Polish composer [[Jan Maklakiewicz]] (1899–1954) wrote the ballet in three scenes ''Cagliostro w Warszawie'' which premiered in 1938.<ref>[[Bogusław Schaeffer]]: "Maklakiewicz, Jan Adam", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* The Romanian composer [[Iancu Dumitrescu]] (1944–) wrote the 1975 work ''Le miroir de Cagliostro'' for choir, flute and percussion.<ref>Octavian Cosma: "Dumitrescu, Iancu", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* The American composer [[John Zorn]] (1953–) composed ''Cagliostro'' for solo viola in 2015. The performer uses two bows in the right hand to play on all four strings at once throughout the work.
* The opera ''Cagliostro'' by the Italian composer [[Ildebrando Pizzetti]] (1880–1968) was performed on [[RAI|Italian radio]] in 1952 and at [[La Scala]] on 24 January 1953.<ref>[[Guido M. Gatti]], John C. G. Waterhouse: "Pizzetti, Ildebrando", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 June 2008)</ref>
* The comic opera ''[[Graf Cagliostro]]'' was written by [[Mikael Tariverdiev]] in 1983.

=== Film ===
* Cagliostro has been portrayed in film by:
** Fryderyk Jarossy (''[[Ladislas Starevich|Kaliostro]]'', 1918)
** [[Reinhold Schünzel]] (''[[The Count of Cagliostro]]'', 1920)
** [[Hans Stüwe]] (''[[Cagliostro (1929 film)|Cagliostro]]'', 1929)
** [[Ferdinand Marian]] (''[[Münchhausen (1943 film)|Münchhausen]]'', 1943)
** [[Orson Welles]] ([[Black Magic (1949 film)|''Black Magic'']], 1949)
** [[Howard Vernon]] (''Erotic Rites of Frankenstein'', 1972)
** [[Jean Marais]] (''{{Interlanguage link|Joseph Balsamo|fr|Joseph Balsamo (mini-série)|vertical-align=sup}}'', 1973, TV miniseries)
** [[Bekim Fehmiu]] (''[[Cagliostro (film)|Cagliostro]]'', 1975)
** [[Nodar Mgaloblishvili]] ([[Formula of Love]], 1984, TV film)
** [[Nicol Williamson]] (''[[Spawn (1997 film)|Spawn]]'', 1997)
** [[Christopher Walken]] (''[[The Affair of the Necklace]]'', 2001)
** [[Robert Englund]] (''[[The Return of Cagliostro]]'', 2003)
* In the 1943 German epic ''[[Münchhausen (1943 film)|Münchhausen]]'', Cagliostro appears as a powerful, morally ambiguous magician portrayed by [[Ferdinand Marian]].
* The French film director [[Georges Méliès]] (1861–1938) directed the 1899 film ''Le Miroir de Cagliostro''.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/64970|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090207011434/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/64970|url-status = dead|archive-date = 7 February 2009|title = Le Miroir de Cagliostro (1899)|access-date = 28 June 2008|publisher = British Film Institute Film & TV Database}}</ref>
* The Japanese animated movie ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'' draws on [[Maurice Leblanc]]'s ''[[Arsène Lupin]]'' novels and has the gentleman thief's half-Japanese grandson as the protagonist. Lazare d'Cagliostro appears as the main antagonist of the film, a ruler of a fictional country who influences the world's economy through counterfeiting (inspired by the 1977 fanfiction ''The Justice of Arsène Lupin'').
* ''[[The Mummy (1932 film)|The Mummy]]'' (1932), starring [[Boris Karloff]], was adapted from an original story treatment by [[Nina Wilcox Putnam]] titled "Cagliostro". Based on Cagliostro and set in San Francisco, the story was about a 3000-year-old magician who survives by injecting nitrates.
* Cagliostro and his wife, Lorenza, appear as antagonists in the 2006 anime ''[[Le Chevalier d'Eon]]''. While Cagliostro is mostly portrayed as a bumbling money-grubber, Lorenza is shown to have arcane magic powers.
* In the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]], Cagliostro is a sorcerer, and is mentioned often in ''[[Doctor Strange (2016 film)|Doctor Strange]]'' (2016). The ''Book of Cagliostro: Study of Time'' is an ancient artifact containing several dark spells. The spin-off Disney+ series [[What If...? (TV series)|What If...?]] mentions him as one who could break an absolute point in time. [[Doctor Strange]] read the lost books of Cagliostro and reversed an absolute point in time, much like the books' author.

=== Television ===
* He is a whimsical villainous alchemist character in the TV anime [[Symphogear|''Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ'']].
* He appears as a villainous magician in an episode of the 1960s series ''[[Thriller (American TV series)|Thriller]]'', entitled "The Prisoner in the Mirror"; he is played by [[Henry Daniell]] and [[Lloyd Bochner]].
* In "Diana's Disappearing Act", a 1978 episode of the ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]'' TV series, a descendant of Cagliostro's (played by [[Dick Gautier]]) is the villain. Attempting alchemy, he succeeds to the extent of turning lead into gold for a time, after which it reverts back to its original form. The long-lived Wonder Woman says that she faced his ancestor, the original count, in the past.
* A magician named Cagliostro is murdered in "Death Casts a Spell," a 1984 episode of ''[[Murder She Wrote]]''.
* In ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' (the seventh episode of the third season), the title character follows a quest for the crystal of Cagliostro. This episode contains an homage to ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'' by way of Jack receiving aid from a thief based directly on [[Daisuke Jigen]].
* The 2016 ''[[Lupin III]]'' yearly special featured a hunt for the treasure of Cagliostro. Prior to this, the name was also used for the 1979 Lupin III theatrical release ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'', though with little relation to the historical Cagliostro.
* In [[The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)]], Episode 36 "The Pharaoh's Curse", an up-and-coming illusionist strives to learn the secrets behind a centuries-old illusion, which has been purportedly handed down from magician masters [[Harry Houdini]], Frederick Eugene Powell, and back originally to Cagliostro himself.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Giovanni Barberi. [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008637972 ''The Life of Joseph Balsamo Commonly called Count Cagliostro'']. London, 1791.
* [[Thomas Carlyle]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080625053508/http://www.nd.edu/~carlyle/cco.pdf ''Count Cagliostro''], Fraser's Magazine (July, Aug. 1833).
* Carlyle, Thomas. "The French Revolution"
* Camilo Castelo Branco. [https://archive.org/details/compendiodavida00brangoog ''Compêndio da Vida e Feitos de José Bálsamo Chamado Conde de Cagliostro ou O Judeu Errante'']. E. Chardron, 1874.
* Giacomo Casanova, ''Soliloque d'un penseur'' (1786). A pamphlet contra Cagliostro, published anonymously.
* Le Couteulx de Canteleu, ''Les sectes et sociétés secrètes, politiques et religieuses'' (1863); Ch. XIII "Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, et l'affaire du collier".
* Philippa Faulks and Robert L. D. Cooper. ''The Masonic Magician; The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and his Egyptian Rite,'' London, Watkins, 2008.
* [[Alexander Lernet-Holenia]]. ''Das Halsband der Königin'' ([[Paul Zsolnay Verlag]], Hamburg/Vienna, 1962, historical study on the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, including a description of Cagliostro's background).
* W. R. H Trowbridge. [https://archive.org/details/cagliostrosplend00trowuoft ''Cagliostro: The Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic''] (Chapman & Hall, London 1910).

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{EB1911 poster|Cagliostro, Alessandro, Count}}{{Commons category|Alessandro Cagliostro}}
* [http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/cagliostro.html Biography from TheMystica.com], identifying him with Giuseppe Balsamo.
* [http://www.djmcadam.com/cagliostro-tarot.html Biography from DJMcAdam.com], an account that just denies this hypothesis without giving a reason.
* [http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/cagliostro.asp The Great Cagliostro: Master Illusionist and King of Liars] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907060352/http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/cagliostro.asp |date=7 September 2011 }}
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[[Category:Alessandro Cagliostro| ]]
[[Category:1743 births]]
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[[Category:18th-century alchemists]]
[[Category:18th-century occultists]]
[[Category:Affair of the Diamond Necklace]]
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[[Category:History of Palermo]]
[[Category:Italian alchemists]]
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[[Category:Italian occultists]]
[[Category:People from Palermo]]
[[Category:Prisoners of the Bastille]]
[[Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in France]]
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