The palace was built between the 14th and 15th centuries as the residence of the Contarini “di San Paternian”, who, from the end of the 15th century, due to the addition of the spiral staircase, were nicknamed “dal Bovolo”. In 1499 Pietro Contarini (perhaps Pietro di Giovanni, father-in-law of Pietro Maria Del Bovolo who in 1502 married Contarina Contarini), Marco Contarini and Giovanni Battista Contarini, senators of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, had a small annex built in the Renaissance style towards the inner courtyard, characterised by a series of open loggias with rounded or depressed arches.
In 1717, the complex passed to Giovanni Minelli, who had married Elisabetta di Pietro Maria Contarini, the last representative of the family. In the early 19th century, it was purchased by the Emery firm, from whom it was leased to Arnoldo Marseille, who opened a hotel there in 1803 known as the “del Maltese” (hence the name of the Maltese courtyard onto which the palace fronts). In 1852, it was bequeathed to the parish of San Luca and became the seat of the Congregation of Charity.
In 1859, the then lithographer Wilhelm Tempel conducted his first astronomical observations from the tower's belvedere, using a telescope of his own. Here, on April 2, 1859, he discovered comet C/1859 G1, and on October 19, 1859, the Merope Nebula in the open cluster of the Pleiades. The palace still belongs to the IRE of Venice, an acronym for Institutions of care and education.
