Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo

The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo is a gothic palace in Venice in the district of San Marco near the Campo Manin.

Has become famous for its spiral staircase of this palace, which is received as Scala del bovolo in art history ( in Venetian dialect, the emphasis is on the first ò ). The palace is a building of the late 15th century, the Contarini family. The façade overlooking the Rio di San Luca. In 1499 decided the then landlord Pietro Contarini, (according to other sources Giorgio Spavento ) to erect a spiral staircase in the new Renaissance style in the courtyard of his palace by the architect Giovanni Candi, in the unusual form of a series of loggias, which in itself open rising arches. This concept is at all novel for an external staircase unusually complex and in this way. The staircase ends in a dome room, which offers an excellent view of the entire city.

In the 19th century, the palace served for a time as a hotel and now houses an educational institution.