At Rome he fell in love with a young and beautiful lady, Lorenza Feliciani, and married her.
Cagliostro used his young wife as a decoy to attract rich and foolish men.

He and his wife thrived for a time, and accumulated money and jewels; but a confederate betrayed them, and they fled to Venice, and then wandered for several years in Italy, France, and England.

They seem to have made a living by the sale of lotions for the skin, and by practising skilful deceptions.
About the year 1770 Cagliostro began to pose as an alchemist.

After another period of wandering he paid a second visit to London and founded a secret society, based on (supposed) Egyptian rites, mingled with those of freemasonry.

The suggestion of this society is said to have come from a curious book he picked up on a second-hand stall in London.