The Ca' da Mosto is a thirteenth-century palace in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the oldest building on the Grand Canal

Grand Canal of Venice

The Grand Canal is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city...

. It is in the Veneto-Byzantine style, with high narrow arches and distinctive capitals.

History

The features of the palace show its beginnings as a casa-fondaco, the home and workplace of its original merchant owner. A second floor was added at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and a third in the nineteenth.

The palace takes its name from the Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto, who was born in the palace in 1432. It stayed in the Da Mosto family until 1603, when Chiara da Mosto left her entire estate to a remote nephew rather than her Da Mosto relatives, with whom she had fallen out.

Between the 16th and the 18th centuries the Ca' da Mosto housed the well-known Albergo Leon Bianco (the White Lion Hotel). In 1769 and 1775 the Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 and son of Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa of Austria

Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...

, Joseph II

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

, lived here during his stay in Venice.

Present day

The Ca' da Mosto currently sits empty, with the high waters of the canal having breached its basement. According to an interview in The Lady

The Lady (magazine)

The Lady is Britain's oldest weekly women's magazine. It has been in continuous publication since 1885 and is based in London. It is particularly notable for its classified advertisements for domestic service and child care; it also has extensive listings of holiday properties.The magazine was...

, the palace is the building Francesco da Mosto

Francesco da Mosto

Francesco da Mosto is an Italian architect, author, historian, film maker and television presenter. He presented the three BBC 2 series Francesco's Venice and Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe where he explored the country in his Alfa Romeo Spider and Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage which sees him...

, a descendant of its eponymous former owners, would most like to restore.