A 15th-century palace on Venice’s Grand Canal long known as the “cursed palace” has returned to the market with an asking price of about 20 million euros, according to a listing by Christie’s International Real Estate.
Ca’ Dario, built in the late 1400s, is described by Christie’s as an architectural jewel featuring Gothic arches, antique chandeliers, nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a garden, a private gondola dock and a rooftop terrace. Yet the palazzo’s reputation has been shaped as much by legend as by luxury, with a history marked by deaths, murders and suicides linked to past owners.
Construction of the palace was completed in 1489 by merchant Giovanni Dario. His daughter, Marietta, later lost her husband to bankruptcy and murder before taking her own life, according to accounts associated with the building’s lore.
Among later owners was Count Filippo Giordano delle Lanze, who was stabbed to death there by his lover in 1970. Financier Raul Gardini, a central figure in Italy’s sweeping Tangentopoli corruption scandal, died by suicide at the palace in 1993 while under investigation.
The building’s ominous reputation has followed it through the modern era. Christopher “Kit” Lambert, manager of the rock band The Who, bought Ca’ Dario in 1971 but reportedly refused to sleep there and sold it shortly afterward. Some later attributed his subsequent struggles with drug addiction, bankruptcy and early death to the palace’s alleged curse.
Opera tenor Mario Del Monaco abandoned plans to purchase the palazzo in 1964 after suffering a serious car accident on his way to sign the deal.
Despite the stories, the palace has also drawn admiration from cultural figures. French painter Claude Monet depicted Ca’ Dario in a 1908 painting, and American writer Henry James praised its delicate columns in his 1909 travel book Italian Hours.
Christie’s has pushed back against the notion that the palace is inherently unlucky. “Hundreds of people lived to old age in the palace, including Giovanni Dario, who died a natural death at the age of 80,” said Arnaldo Foscolo, Christie’s Venice managing director.
The firm said the building has undergone significant upgrades, including modern plumbing and climate control systems, and can accommodate the installation of an elevator without damaging its historic interior. Christie’s argues that the palace’s value lies not only in its legend but also in its architecture and its rare canal-side garden.
Tourists and gondoliers continue to slow along the Grand Canal to photograph the palace’s asymmetrical windows and Byzantine decorative elements, while brokers wait for a buyer willing to invest in a landmark that carries both five centuries of history and a famously dark reputation.