THE VENETIAN BEAUTY

It's not a secret that Invitation To Inspiration's second hometown is the beautiful city of Venice ( Italy ). It's the only city in the world that can be described as being truly unique. Every building, bridge or square, practically everything you see is a work of art. Living in Venice gave Invitation To Inspiration opportunity to see and get to know all those places which could never be discovered and experienced when being just a tourist. 
Today's inspiration is a beautiful small palace known as the PALAZZO CONTARINI DEL BOVOLO. 

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The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, the home of the Contarini family, was built in 1499 by GIOVANNI CANDI. Despite the fact that Giovanni Candi was the original designer, it was said that GIORGIO SPAVENTO was the true designer of the famous spiral staircase located on the outside of the palace. The spiral staircase was not even built at the same time as the rest of the building, but rather it was a later addition to the building. 

photo by Invitation To Inspiration ( 2008. )

In Venetian dialect "bovolo" means a "snail shell" and the palace was given that name because it was said that the spiral staircase looked similar to the shell of a snail. The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo is often referred to simply as "the snail house".

photo by Invitation To Inspiration ( 2008. )

The palace takes after a few different types of architecture and design. There are Renaissance, Byzantine and Gothic styles incorporated throughout the palace, not only on the exterior of the building, but also in the interior. The building is mostly designed in the Early Renaissance style, however the staircase is considered to be more Gothic. From the exterior of the building the most noticeable are the half arches located on the outside of the stair corridor. There are also exquisite columns that follow the salient line of the staircase, which are located in the stairwell that face toward the Rio di San Luca.

photo by Invitation To Inspiration ( 2008. )

According to Wikipedia and SCALA CONTARINI DEL BOVOLO- OFFICIAL WEBSITE 

the stair is currently being restored and it is closed to the public. But they can't stop us to enjoy and to be inspired by this particular Venetian beauty.

P.S. It is very hard to take a good quality photo of The Contarini del Bovolo beacuse  it is located in a narrow, less traveled side street ( near the Campo Manin ) and it is surrounded by other palaces and buildings as tall as The Contarini Palace. Invitation To Inspiration was lucky enough to have a friend who lived just  across the Contarini stairs so we were able to make  few decent shots from her window :-D