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 Catholic Order of St. John of God,

from which he was eventually expelled.

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.

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 djinns.

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.

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.

Travels

In early 1768

Balsamo

left for Rome,

where he managed to land himself a job

as

a secretary to

Cardinal Orsini.

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.

Of the many Sicilian expatriates and ex-convicts

he met during this period, one introduced him to

a seventeen-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.

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, though, Agliata sought sexual intercourse with Balsamo's young wife, a request to which Balsamo acquiesced.

The couple

traveled together to

London,

Лондон

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 Courland, Russia, Poland, Germany, and later France.