The Palace was born as a “fontego” house having an evident late gothic taste. In fact the first body of the building dates back to 1300, and it has been chosen by the noble Contarini of the San Paternian branch as family residence owing to the strategic location occupied by the building, equally distant from Rialto – place of commerce – and from San Marco – centre of the Venetian political power.
In 1499 Pietro Contarini commissioned the beautiful and graceful spiral staircase (“bovolo” in Venetian) in order to “embellish” even more this side of the palace, already richly frescoed in itself with floral motifs, of which few remaining fresco fragments are still present today.
The paternity of this impressive piece of architecture is still unknown. Some historians attribute it to the local master builder Giovanni Candi, others suggest the name of the architect Giorgio Spavento.
The artefact is formed by a spiral of steps developing inside a 26 meters high cylindrical tower built in Istrian stone and exposed bricks, perforated with series of arches and flanked by lodges connecting it to the adjacent building.