It is easy to understand that the palace was built as the residence of a family of Venetian nobles. The Contarini family (known later as the Contarini dal Bovolo, after the Venetian name for the spiral staircase) were one of the 'apostolic families', an umbrella term used to indicate those patrician families which had a prominent role in the city's political affairs. The term was also used to denote one of the three main social groups into which Venetian society was divided, the other two being citizens and foreigners. Descendants of the Contarini family owned the palazzo, which was built sometime between the 14th and the 15th century, until the 19th century, when it was finally sold and converted into a hotel, the first of many functions it would have throughout the years apart from a noble family home.