Visiting Versace's Mansion (Villa Casa Casuarina)

In July of 2016, we traveled to Miami, Florida and one of the locations we wanted to visit was in South Beach, and that is the former Versace Mansion.   We new very well about want happened there, but didn't realize what we would run into at the location.

Gianni Versace's former mansion is now converted into an a glamorous boutique hotel which is at the center of the Art Deco District is a 2-minute walk from South Beach.  Richly decorated suites feature separate sitting areas, imported Egyptian linens and Italian marble bathrooms, plus free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs and iPod docks. Some suites have balconies and pool or ocean views.  Amenities include 2 indoor lounges, a rooftop patio, and a 54-foot pool surrounded by mosaics and lined in 24-carat gold. An acclaimed restaurant serves Italian/Mediterranean cuisine. Massage treatments are available for a fee.  You can book a room through Expedia.com starting at only $1299.00 a night.   The hotel is located at 1116 Ocean Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

For more information about the mansion, and some of the paranormal activity that takes place there, you can check out our following video.

In case you were not aware as to what happened here, in 1997. The designer (Versace), 50, had just unlocked the gate of his home after having breakfast at News Café on Ocean Drive when a man in his mid-twenties, serial killer Andrew Cunanan, pulled a gun and shot him twice in the back of the head.

Versace’s blood stained the coral front steps of the property after the shooting. The world famous, part-time resident lived in the home for five years before his murder, having spent millions on renovations and improvements of the property.

We made a special trip out to South Beach just to see the mansion.   Once we found parking, we walked down to the mansion where the restaurant was just starting plans to open for the day.   The doors were open, yet nobody was going into the building yet.   I walked up the stars and was greeted by a couple of gentlemen asking if I needed their help.   I asked if I could just walk into the foyer area and take a couple of pictures (a typical tourist question), and I was immediately asked to leave the property.   From that point on, they just stood at the front doors, so we walked across the street and continue taking pictures from over there before we walked back to the car and left heading back Coral Gables where our hotel room was located.

As far as we got inside the mansion was to the top of the front steps.   If you have been to the mansion who would like to go there sometime in the future, please let us know down in the comments below.

---