Francesco da Mosto

Da Mosto lives in his family home in Venice, with his South African-born wife Jane, his four children, and his parents. Francesco’s grandfather Andrea acquired the palazzo in 1919, where the family now live. When he moved in, the empty picture frames on the walls of the portego were filled with copies of family pictures, including a 15th-century map of the voyages of Alvise da Mosto, who discovered the Cape Verde islands off the west coast of Africa.

In 2015, da Mosto co-presented the documentary A Sicilian Dream about the Targa Florio, a Sicilian motor race.

The family's previous Venice residence, the Ca' da Mosto, which can be seen from the Rialto market by the Grand Canal, was lost through marriage in the 17th century, when Chiara da Mosto, a female member of the family, married four times, with each husband dying of natural causes – thus enabling her to become one of the wealthiest people in Venice.

Shakespeare in Italy was broadcast on BBC Two on 3 and 10 May 2012.

Francesco da Mosto (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko da ˈmosto] ; born 1961) is an Italian architect, author, historian, film maker and television presenter. He presented the three BBC 2 series Francesco's Venice (2004) and Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe (2006) where he explored the country in an Alfa Romeo Spider and Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage (filmed 2007, broadcast 2008) which sees him sailing aboard the Camper and Nicholsons ketch Black Swan from his home city, Venice, to Istanbul, visiting places including Split, Mostar and Dubrovnik. He presented the two part BBC 2 series: Shakespeare in Italy, (2012).

Unfortunately for the da Mosto family, the childless widow had a falling-out with them and on her death in 1603 she left everything to Leonardo Donà dalle Rose, a nephew of her second husband, who went on to become Doge.