Casa Casuarina

Lonely Planet review

Casa Casuarina is a bit macabre. Not in and of itself: on its own, the Casa is a gorgeous if gaudy mansion smack on South Beach. But people mainly come here to see where fashion designer Gianni Versace was gunned down (before shopping at, no kidding, a now-closed nearby Versace outlet).

Here's the history: Back in the 1930s the Casa was dubbed the Amsterdam Palace, modeled after the Governor's House in Santo Domingo, where Christopher Columbus' son kicked it.

When Versace purchased the property in the 1980s, he locked horns with local preservationists after announcing plans to tear down a neighboring hotel so he could build a pool. The designer eventually won - but the fight focused attention on loopholes in Miami Beach's Preservation Ordinance that were subsequently closed, an act that would save more than 200 other historic hotels.

None of it seemed important, though, in 1997, when stalker Andrew Cunanan gunned Versace down in front of his beloved mansion. Ironically, just as Miami Vice 's fake crime put Miami on the map for American tourists, the Versace shooting gave the Magic City big profile among distraught Euro fashionistas, who came here and decided to stay and tip poorly in cafés. Now the house attracts a steady stream of the morbidly curious, as well as members of some chi-chi members-only club that now occupies the site.

And at the time of research, there was a buzz about a new Versace Murder Walking Tour. Local Diego Caiola had begun offering a two-hour, around US$25 walking tour that traced Versace's life, and ended right where…well, you can guess. Apparently, it was to run three days a week and start at the News Café.