Lord Byron’s association with Venice is legendary: for his love affairs with various Venetian ladies, his eccentricities and his prodigious literary output.   Escaping from scandal and an unhappy marriage in England in 1816, he settled for almost three years in Venice where he rented the crumbling Palazzo Mocenigo which he shared with his second mistress, an illegitimate daughter, and a menagerie including a fox and two monkeys.  Despite a hectic social and romantic life and great financial pressures, Byron somehow found time in “the greenest island of my imagination” to write numerous letters and to complete Childe Harold, compose a play and embark upon his comic masterpiece Don Juan as well as swimming the length of the Grand Canal. 

To find out more about his ladies and a romantic escapade listen to the audio below