Palazzo Ca’ Dario, empty for years, has failed to find a new owner, with local legends suggesting it is jinxed
It ought to be an estate agent’s dream. Primely positioned on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice, just steps away from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the storied Palazzo Ca’ Dario has shimmered on the water since the late 15th century, its elegant early Venetian Renaissance facade among the city’s most distinctive.
Named after its first owner, Giovanni Dario, a diplomat hailed a hero after securing a peace treaty with the Ottoman empire, over the centuries the palazzo has been home to nobles, merchants and even British rock music royalty. In 1908, it was painted by Claude Monet during his trip to Venice and one year later was cited by Henry James in his travelogue Italian Hours.
But the sprawling building, which comes with nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms and grand reception rooms filled with frescoes, has proved stubbornly difficult to sell – and not necessarily because buyers have been spooked by its price tag, reportedly €20m (£17.4m).
Estate agents have struggled to overcome its reputation as “Venice’s cursed palace” owing to a string of owners and guests who met untimely, and in some cases violent, deaths.
