Francesco da Mosto

Count Francesco da Mosto (born 1961 in Venice) is an Italian architect, film maker and TV presenter.

Family history

Count da Mosto's family has been part of Venice's history since possibly as early as the fifth century. Originally, they were wine-makers (the name da Mosto comes from the word "mosto" meaning grape must – the juice from crushed grapes). Later, they became traders, explorers and politicians.

The families previous Venice residence can be seen from the Rialto market where, near the Grand Canal, the Ca da Mosto was lost through marriage in the 17th century. A female member of the family married four times, with each husband dying of natural causes – and she became one of the richest people in Venice, but had no heirs. She had a fight with the other Da Mostos and so she left everything to a nephew of her second husband, who went on to become Doge.

Biography

A Roman Catholic, Count da Mosto took his first Holy Communion in the crypt of St Marks. A few years later, he received the sacrament of Confirmation from the future Pope John Paul I.

Following the murder of John Lennon, Count Da Mosto went to London to wash dishes and make sandwiches to "try understand the working life and music where the English beat generation lived". He moved to Rome for two years making films, then Paris making documentaries and writing screenplays. He returned to Venice two years later, and spent a month living with the Venice fire brigade at the fire station, to make a film for National Geographic. His military service was spent in the Italian Alpine paratroops regiment.

After military service, Count da Mosto started his career as an architect as technical consultant for public infrastructure works in the Venice lagoon. On the island of Pellestrina, he designed a square with a sundial where your shadow tells you the time and he worked closely with the late Aldo Rossi who won the competition to re build Venice’s La Fenice Theatre, destroyed by fire in 1996 – he filmed it from his palazzo. He has designed and executed many restorations in Venice, and still runs a busy architectural practice.

Count da Mosto lives in the family home in Venice, with his South African born wife Jane, his three children, and his parents. Francesco’s grandfather, Andrea, acquired the palazzo where the family live in 1919. 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 of Africa.

It was a contact he made at that time while he was an Assistant Director in Rome who remembered him when BBC Two decided to make a four-part series about the history of Venice. Count da Mosto has presented two series for BBC Two: Francesco's Venice and Francesco's Italy - from tip to toe.

Trivia

• He drives an Alfa Romeo Spider, which he keeps under a tarpaulin in Venice.
• He spent his summer holidays with his family, in the Italian enterpreneurs's mecca of Portofino, near Genoa.
• He supports Italian Serie A soccer team, Inter Milan.

External links

• "Francesco's Italy" BBC2's official series website
• Bio at Agents website
• "Inside my Palazzo" Telegraph interview with Count da Mosto
• Interview with "The Lady" magazine