The palazzo in question is the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, and the book discusses three women who owned it at various times: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse, and Peggy Guggenheim.

Quite an interesting trio. Casati came from an extremely wealthy family, married a marquess from whom she later separated, and was known for taking her pet cheetah along in her gondola. Her life was her art.

Doris Castlerosse came from a middle-class family, but was determined to become rich and social. Her path to that was to become a "professional mistress", though she later made a rather unfortunate marriage. She had quite the variety of lovers, including Cecil Beaton (!!!) and Winston Churchill. But it was a woman who bought the palazzo for her. She lived there only briefly, however, leaving Venice with the onset of World War II, and never returning.

Peggy Guggenheim had a difficult childhood, not helped by her father's death in the sinking of the Titanic, and, like the others, had lousy taste in men. She became, of course, a great patron of modern art, and the palazzo is now the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Her ashes (and her dogs) are buried in the garden.

All things considered, I admire these women who lived their lives with passion and intensity – what more can any of us hope to achieve?

https://wanderlustandwords.blogspot.com/2020/11/life-love-and-art-in-venice.html

A highly readable enjoyable biography detailing a trinity of unhappy and essentially misunderstood women in the early part to the late 20th century. Using the setting of their house on the grand canal in Venice Mackerel looks at their lives, love, art and the social milieu and tones in which they circulate. Very intriguing, slightly gossipy but ultimately rewarding. ( )