The history of this small building dates back to the late 19th century, when the Austrian prince and antiques dealer Fritz Hohenlohe-Waldenburg, along with his wife Zina, one of the leading figures of the Belle Époque aristocracy, purchased a small plot of land on the Grand Canal that contained only an old hovel and a garden. The palace, as we know it today, was built by architect Domenico Rupolo as the prince’s residence. Hohenlohe-Waldenburg and his wife lived there until the outbreak of World War I, and it was they who guided the architect in the construction of a building that differed greatly from his famous works and from the Venetian palaces of the time. After the prince left the residence, this little house became a reference point for prominent figures in the world of art and culture, such as Baron Giorgio Franchetti, Count Giuseppe Primoli, the painter Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, the poet Henri De Regnier, Rainer Maria Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Eleonora Duse, and Gabriele D’Annunzio.