The Villa Casa Casuarina At The Former Versace Mansion

Gianni Versace's former Ocean Drive mansion, now a suite hotel with Gianni's restaurant and a 1930 courtyard full of history.

Checked October 2026

For a splurge dinner or a night in a famous house, especially if the Versace story is the point. The trade-off: you're paying for history and decor on the busiest strip of Ocean Drive, and details like menus and prices take some checking.

Read the walls

The kneeling bronze Aphrodite out front has been with the house since it was built in 1930, sculpted by Vuk Vuchinich, a protégé of original owner Alden Freeman. Freeman modeled the place on the Alcazar de Colon in Santo Domingo and set one of its bricks to the right of the main entrance. Inside, the courtyard floor is original key lime coral, four white pillars honor Columbus, Confucius, Frederick Douglass and Pocahontas, and about 130 portrait medallions line the walls. Versace spent $32 million adding the pool, garden and south wing after buying it in 1992. It's dense with detail, so look down as often as up.

Dinner at Gianni's

Gianni's is the restaurant on the property, and a table there is the main way in if you aren't sleeping over. The website has a Find a Table button, so book ahead rather than counting on a walk-in from Ocean Drive. Our sources don't list a menu or prices, so check first if budget matters. What you're really paying for is the setting: the richly decorated walls, floors, ceilings and windows from the Versace era, which stayed put when his belongings were auctioned in 2001. It suits an anniversary, or a dinner that needs a story to go with it.

Booking a suite

The hotel side runs around the clock, with suites carved out of what were once 24 apartments. Some rooms keep their family history: Santo Versace's bedroom is now the Venus room, and Donatella's is the Signature suite. Guests get the pool and garden Versace built on the lot where the Hotel Revere stood until he bought and demolished it. Google reviewers give it 4.4 from about 3,300 ratings, solid for a place this famous. Ocean Drive runs right past the front steps, so this is a stay in the thick of South Beach, not a retreat from it.

Reservations

Book Gianni's through the Find a Table option on the website; suites are booked separately with Book a Suite.

Good to know

Look for the brick from Santo Domingo's Alcazar de Colon set to the right of the main entrance.

Questions people ask