Case file · Folklore / legend
Palacio Barolo, Buenos Aires
Completed in 1923 by Italian architect Mario Palanti, the Palacio Barolo on Avenida de Mayo was designed as an architectural allegory of Dante's Divine Comedy, from hell in the basement to heaven in the lighthouse.
1923 CE · -34.61, -58.39 · status: account
The account
Its 100 metres echo the cantos of the poem, and its lighthouse lines up with the twin Palacio Salvo that Palanti built in Montevideo. Esoteric stories, including a rumour that Dante's ashes were meant to be kept there, add to its mystique.
The sceptical view
The Dante symbolism is documented; the occult legends around the building are not.