Scala Contarini del Bovolo: The Snail Shell of San Marco
Why is it significant?
Duck through the narrow archway into the tiny cobblestone dead-end of Corte del Bovolo and stop dead in your tracks.
Key Facts
| Place | Scala Contarini del Bovolo: The Snail Shell of San Marco |
|---|---|
| Address | Corte Contarini del Bovolo 4299, 30124 Venezia |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.43490, 12.33470 |
| Part of Walk | Venice: Grand Canal Palazzi, Doges, and Floating Masterpieces |
| Generated | Generated |
Duck through the narrow archway into the tiny cobblestone dead-end of Corte del Bovolo and stop dead in your tracks. Towering twenty-eight meters above you is one of the most eccentric architectural wonders in Italy: the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, a freestanding cylindrical tower featuring eighty spiraling open marble arches winding gracefully toward the sky.
In the Venetian dialect, bovolo means snail shell. Wealthy aristocrat Pietro Contarini commissioned architect Giovanni Candi to build this flamboyant tower in fourteen ninety-nine simply to embellish his Gothic palace and provide a grand vantage point over the rooftops of Venice.
The tower is so well hidden within the maze of narrow calli that it cannot be seen from any canal. In eighteen fifty-nine, German astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Tempel set up his telescope on the top observation dome of this very spiral tower, discovering the historic comet C slash eighteen fifty-nine G one and the Merope Nebula in the Pleiades!
Head through the Campo San Luca toward the bustling steps of the Rialto Bridge.