John Law

If the question ever comes up in a pub quiz: where did the great Scottish financier John Law (1671–1729) end up after killing a man in a duel in London and fleeing to France, where he single-handedly blew up the national economy when the bubble burst on his Mississippi Scheme?

The answer to this teaser lies toes-up under the floor of San Moisè, after spending his last years in Venice living by gambling at the nearby Ridotto. There’s an inscription on a slab near the entrance.