Everyone knows the exotic Palazzo Dario and the unhappy ends met by some of its owners, as endlessly recounted in guidebooks and Grand Canal tours. You may also have spotted the inscription on the garden wall in Campiello Barbaro behind it, installed there by one-time-owner and extensive renovator, the Contessa De La Baume-Pluvinel:

In questa casa antica dei Dario,
Henri de Régnier—
poeta di Francia—
venezianamente visse e scrisse—
anni 1899-1901.

“In this antique home of Dario,
Henri de Régnier — poet of France —
‘Venetianly’ lived and wrote —
from 1899-1901.”

You’ve probably only seen the inside, though, if you’ve inquired about purchasing it.

This Corbis gallery of photographs by Massimo Listri offers a rare look at the palazzo’s extraordinarily opulent interior. You can see how someone might be tempted to risk their fortune to live there.

Finally, for more background on this intriguing Palazzo, take a look at scholar Diana Wright’s notes.