Tour Inside Gianni Versace's Mansion in South Beach

World-famous Ocean Drive is one of the most photographed stretches of Miami Beach. Here we find, nestled among low-rise Art Deco hotels, Villa Casa Casuarina – better known as the Versace Mansion. The Versace mansion is the third most photographed house in the United States behind Elvis’ Graceland and the White House.

On a trip to Miami, Gianni Versace fell in love with a rundown apartment building that he would transform into an over-the-top mansion. He called it Casa Casuarina, the original name from when the building had been constructed in 1930. The name translates to “house of the Australian pine”.

The Mediterranean Revival style palace, lined with the designer’s signature Greek mythology Medusa logo in gold bas relief, has been the subject of fascination for locals and tourists alike on Ocean Drive ever since Gianni Versace’s untimely murder on its front steps in 1997 at age 50.

The mansion is not open to the public for tours or a look inside lending to the home’s mystique about the lavish world that exists beyond those wrought iron gates.

The most impressive sight is the elaborate Mediterranean-style Mosaic Garden courtyard with an enormous Medusa medallion inlaid on the floor that leads to the 54-foot long Thousand Mosaic swimming pool.

The pool is made from more than one million mosaic tiles and lined with thousands of 24-karat gold pieces. Versace’s pool drew inspiration from a scarf in his “Marine Vanuras” collection.

Versace appreciated Greek and Roman mythology, as demonstrated in his label’s logo of a snaked-adorned Medusa head. He placed this logo throughout his property: in the poolside mosaic garden, on gates and railings, and on shower drains.

These mosaics were crafted in Versace’s home town of Reggio Calabria in Italy, and then taken apart and shipped to Miami Beach in pieces where they were reassembled.

Versace built 11 custom bedrooms in the mansion, originally designed for his famous friends and guests which included Cher, Madonna, Elton John, Princess Diana and Versace’s sister, Donatella. 

The designer’s former 1,174 square-foot Villa Suite bedroom is available to guests for a truly intimate peek into Versace’s life. The room like the rest of the mansion’s interiors is an over-the-top glitz and glamour.

The Miami mansion was luxurious and filled with works of art such as Picassos but it wasn’t a museum-like space. He made it a comfortable place to live with his partner, Antonio D’Amico. 

Book a table at the restaurant Gianni’s for lunch or dinner in the courtyard by the pool or in the dining room served on Versace-designed Rosenthal china.

Reserve a room. If a $1,000 plus a night hotel room is out of reach, the public can dine in the villa’s Baroque grandeur with a reservation at Gianni’s.

It was purchased by Versace for $2.95 million in 1992. At that time, Ocean Drive was still an odd collection of small hotels, modeling agencies and senior citizen’s homes. In 1993, Versace bought the Hotel Revere, located next door, for almost $4 million which he tore down to make a pool, garden and south wing area for his house.

Versace then spent $32 million in renovations over three years to transform the historic property into a mansion fit for a king and a celebrity destination.

Versace’s presence on Ocean Drive and the flashy celebrity parties at his mansion were in part responsible for South Beach’s renaissance during that era.

The property’s current owner is the Nakash family of Jordache Enterprises who purchased it at auction for $41.5 million in 2013.

As with many famous buildings, Casa Casuarina has its share of mystery. The villa has several secret doors and hidden passageways throughout the mansion that Versace’s celebrity friends would use to get about the property unbothered.

Secret Passages. One of the home's secret passages made it easy to get from Versace's bedroom to an entertainment den. Most have been closed up since the hotel moved in and the library is now known as the G Lounge.

It is believed that the home’s original owner, Alden Freeman, put a time capsule in the house when it was built in 1930. The item was never uncovered during Versace’s renovations of the home but it is thought to be hidden in the building’s cornerstone, which was left untouched during the remodel.

The hotel’s intricate wall art has been maintained for years by an artist on staff that works to keep up and carefully restore the many murals on the property.

It is also said that Versace maintained a pigeon coop beneath the rooftop observatory and would use the messenger pigeons to send notes to friends.

The opulence of Casa Casuarina made it a location for filming the TV series “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”, which premiered in 2018 and tells the story of the designer’s life and death, and his most infamous home. 

In one interview, Versace shared his appreciation for Miami, noting, “I wake up and I work. I’m very serene here.” Miami influences, such as pastel colors and palm tree prints, showed up in his collections.

It was one of the only private residences on Ocean Drive so he could quickly walk to his favorite nearby News Café every morning.

Unfortunately, this was where he was returning from on July 15, 1997, when he was shot and killed on the steps of his beloved home.