Secluded by its small courtyard, at the end of a narrow street near Campo Manin, rises gracefully the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, an eccentric external spiral staircase (“bovolo” in venetian) and great example of transition from the Gothic style to the Renaissance art in Venice. From the top of it you can enjoy an amazing and unusual view of roofs, chimneys and bell towers, as you were on a noble Venetian turret.
Beside the staircase, the Contarini Fasan Palace, in flamboyant Gothic style (1475), probably made by Giovanni Candi, it is legendarily called “the home of Desdemona». At the end of the XV century, Pietro Contarini added at his Gothic palace of St. Paternian a new element to visually qualify and decorate the internal façade in front of a small courtyard, once protected by a wall. A sequence of overlapping loggias link the floors of the building to an open spiral staircase inside a cylindrical tower pierced by bowings, recalling Gothic models and Byzantine stepped towers.
Useful information:
Opening times:
Winter Opening Hours: From October 27, 2025, to February 22, 2026: Daily from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Summer Opening Hours: From February 24, 2025, to October 26, 2025: Daily from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Price:
9€ Full Price
7€ Concessions: 12 to 26 years-old, over 65 years-old, FAI members & National Trust members, Touring Club Italiano (TCI), GIST (Gruppo Italiano Stampa Turistica) members
Contacts:
Website: http://www.scalacontarinidelbovolo.com/it/
E-mail: cultura@fondazioneveneziaservizi.it
Phone: +39 041 3096605
Address: Campo Manin, S. Marco 4299 - Venezia
How to get there: Ferry boat stop "Rialto"
