The room was filled with numerous candles. People danced, drank and laughed. The giddy „party troup“ did not consist in rich nobles, but in the most famous Renaissance artists and writers: Giorgione, Tizian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Sansovino, Aretino and Pietro Luzzo visited the Casino* of the Contarini family. They enjoyed their time there with the most beautiful female models and muses.

It was a kind of playboy mansion of Renaissance times!

One of these women was Cecilia, muse and lover of Giorgione, that also Pietro Luzzo had kept an eye on. No, he was actually totally in love with Cecilia! He just couldn’t bring himself to confess his deep love to her.

One evening he had finally made it to isolate himself and Cecilia from the rest of the group, took all his courage and confessed his love to her. Cecilia though rejected him and so Pietro threatened to kill himself.

„Go on, the sea is big enough!“, replied Cecilia very cool to his threat.

„Attention Cecilia, because the dead turn back…“ whispered Pietro minacious with a cold voice while throwing a viperish look on her.

Cecilia backed off anxiously and fled to the other artists that talked cheerfully and hilariously with each other and had noticed nothing of these weird scene.

Pietro, whobecause of his pale look and haggard face was also called „dead from Feltre“ disappeared on the same evening.

A few days later Pietro appeared again out of the blue

‍The artists and their beautiful muses were partying and cheering with a glass of wine when suddenly they saw the ghost of Pietro standing next to a window. He said nothing, but his look was grim and menacing. After the first shock (and after the ghost disappeared) the artists decided to wall the window. The next evening, Pietro appeared next to another window. They walled it too.

In the end, they had walled all the windows andPietro “the dead from Feltre” didn’t appear again.

Casino degli Spiriti

Pietro did vanish, but generations of fishermen and oarsmen continued hearing strange rumours coming from this part of the Contarini house. Some thought that a group of counterfeiters had their hideout there, making strange noises to keep curious people away. Others thought that the ghosts of Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, … were still going around there. This is also how the name „Casino degli Spiriti“ (the Ghost Casino) was coined.

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Feel free to contact us for a tailor made tour along the off-the-beaten-track streets of Venice entering the secret garden where the haunted "Casino degli Spiriti" is still standing today.

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An itinerary of 2 hours could cover the former Jewish Ghetto area, the Madonna dell'Orto Church where Tintoretto was buried, legends and anecdotes and even the visit to a workshop producing Murano glass beads and jewelry.

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We also offer a barrierfree version including a choice of the above mentioned sights. Please contact us for a customized offer.