A beautiful city with a long history; a special tour of the Palazzo Ducale, including the prisons, was fascinating.
We had a 10 a.m. Secret Itinerary tour booked at Palazzo Ducale so strolled down to Piazza San Marco from our hotel, Al Ponte Vecchio, after breakfast. The most iconic views of this area of Venice are from Canal Grande.
Piazza San Marco is the square stretching west from the Basilica di San Marco. The piazza was full of chairs in front of a stage and other paraphernalia when we visited in 2025.
When Napoleon conquered the city in 1797 the Venetian Republic was brought to an end, the Doge was evicted from Palazzo Ducale and Napoleon built a residence fr himself with administrative offices opposite the Basilica on Piazza San Marco.
The piazzetta stretches from Canal Grande north towards the Piazza with the Palazzo Ducale to the east. The piazzetta can be entered from Canal Grande where two columns flank the dock area. On one is a statue of a winged lion, symbol of Venice and San Marco. On the other a statue of San Todaro (St Theodore) the original patron saint of the city before St Mark. San Todaro is shown slaying a dragon which looks very like a crocodile. The dragon represents evil in Christian iconography.
The history of the Campanile San Marco stretches back over a thousand years. A first watchtower lasted little more than 20 years before being demolished to make way for a tower which doubled as a bell tower.1 This was enlarged and restored in the following centuries, though the copper cap was frequently struck by lightning, causing fires and significant damage. The tower seems to have been rather neglected in the 19th century and became increasingly unstable until it collapsed in 1902. Its replacement is the tower standing today.
When the body of St Mark was brought to Venice in the late ninth century he became the city's patron saint, replacing St Theodore. His remains lie within the magnificent Basilica di San Marco on Piazza San Marco. Part of the west facade was under a shrouded scaffold when we were there in 2025 but the four lovely bronze horses were visible, though these are replicas, the originals are now in the museum. These were looted from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.2
The first church was burned down at the end of the tenth century, construction of the current church began in 1063.2
The imposing west facade is punctuated by five portals, including the largest main central entrance to the Basilica. Above the four smaller entrances mosaics tell the story of the transport of the body of St Mark to the Basilica.
There are lovely views towards the waterside entrance from the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore. This Benedictine Abbey occupies a small island and can be reached by vaporetto.
Palazzo Ducale has its origins in a ninth century Byzantine Fortress which developed over the following centuries to become the official residence of the Doge and the seat of the Republic's government. When Napoleon conquered the city in 1797 the Doge was evicted from the palace and the building lost its importance.
The Porta del Frumento is on the south facade on the Grand Canal, the oldest part of the palace. The beautiful 15th century Gothic Porta della Carta on the north end of the west front became the principal and ceremonial entrance into the courtyard of the palace.
The Secret Itinerary tour was very good, especially the old prison. There are two sets of prisons: the Old Prisons in the east side of Palazzo Ducale, and the New Prisons across the Bridge of Sighs.
The tour began in the courtyard from where we entered the Old Prisons.
We exited the courtyard through a narrow door that led to the Pozzi (wells). These are the old prison cells, very dark and very damp.3 Being so low they could easily flood.
The cells are low with no windows and had only a base for a cot, a small shelf and a lidded wooden bucket for waste.3
From here we went up a narrow staircase into administrative offices and then into the Office of the Great Chancellor and the Chamber of the Secret Chancellery, beautiful wood-panelled rooms, such a contrast from what was below our feet!
The Chamber of the Secret Chancellery was the headquarters of the Venetian magistrature. Sensitive documents were kept in cabinets hidden behind the panelling.
Close by is a Torture Chamber, really rather gruesome. It's a double height room with a long rope dropping from the ceiling. Here a prisoner was suspended by hands tied behind their back.
There were prison cells on both floors around the torture chamber. A narrow staircase leads up to the cells just below the roof, called Piombi, meaning "leads", for the lead on the roof. These cells were exclusively for the prisoners of the Council of Ten, including Casanova.
The Council of Ten were one of the most powerful bodies governing the Republic from the early 14th century until the end of the 18th century when Napoleon conquered the city.
Cells in the Piombi were much better than those in the Pozzi. They were drier and had windows.
The guide told us about Casanova's escape, at least Casanova's version - Casanova chronicled his time in the prison. He wrote that he had almost burrowed his way through the floor of his first cell when a sympathetic jailer, thinking he was doing him a favour, move him to a better cell! It seems that this was just as well as the room below where he would have landed was where prisoners' fates were decided!
In his second cell he tells how a priest, held in a neighbouring cell, cut a hole through the ceiling, which was hidden every night behind a religious picture, which, as a priest, he was allowed to have, to be the first thing he saw when he woke in the morning. After cutting through his own ceiling, he went into the roof space and cut a hole in Casanova's ceiling (how this was hidden is not told). They both entered the roof space and got onto the roof itself, then entered a room by an open dormer window.
They were discovered but pretended that they had been locked in overnight after a palace function the previous evening (the prisoners in the Piombi were allowed to wear their own clothes). They were then shown out of the palace and escaped. Whether these stories are true is debatable as they are only chronicled by Casanova himself.
From here we went back downstairs to the Sala dei Tre Capi and the Sala dei Inquisitori. In the Sala dei Tre Capi the three chief magistrates of the Council of Ten prepared for trials.
There are lots of useful information boards in the palace.
In the Sala dei Inquisitori trials took place overseen by three members of the Council of Ten. They were able to conduct covert operations to obtain information as well as using torture. The ceiling is decorated with paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto.5 The subject of the Return of the Prodigal Son in the central painting is surely not by chance, probably designed to encourage prisoners to confess and repent.
From here we entered some of the grandest and most opulently decorated state rooms.
The 16th century Scala D'Oro - the Golden Stairs - in the centre of the east wing of the palazzo are the main and most flamboyant of the staircases in the palace.
The Sala del Collegio - Council Chamber - was where the Pien Collegio - Full Council - of the Republic met. The Pien Collegio was divided into Savi (wise men) and Signoria. The three Savi dealt with foreign policy, maritime affairs and Venice's Italian empire.6 One of the responsibilities of the Pieno Collegio was receiving foreign delegations, no doubt in this splendid room.
After the devastating fire of 1574 this room was designed by Andrea Palladio. The beautiful ceiling paintings are by Paolo Veronese celebrating the Good Government of the Republic.
Veronese is also responsible for the large painting over the Tribunale (the raised dais where the Doge and/or highest members of the Republic sat) which celebrates the victory over the Turks at the Battle Of Lepanto on the 7th October 1571 at which the men and ships of Venice played an essential role.
Adjoining the Sala del Collegio is the Sala del Senato - the Senate Chamber. The Senate was one of Venice's oldest institutions, dating from the 13th century. Essentially a sub-committee of the Great Council their main remit was dealing with political and financial affairs of e.g. manufacturing industries, trade and foreign policy.6
The fire of 1574 also gutted this room necessitating restoration and refurbishment with new decoration. Works by Tintoretto centre on the figure of Christ, perhaps alluding to the Senate's role in electing the Doge, who was seen as being under the protection of the Son of God.
On into the Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci - the Chamber of the Council of Ten.
The Council of Ten, first set up in 1310, had authority over all aspects of public life. Hearings were held in secret and verdicts and sentences handed down rapidly. The ten members were chosen from the Senate and elected by the Great Council.6 The council was actually formed by these ten sitting with the Doge and his six counsellors.
A young Paolo Veronese assisted Gian Battista Ponchino in the decoration of the ceiling. However the large oval painting in the centre, depicting Jove descending from the clouds to hurl thunderbolts at Vice is a copy, the original Veronese was taken by Napoleon and is now in the Louvre.
The Sala della Bussola - Compass Room - is next to the Chamber of the Council of Ten. There is a hidden entrance to the rooms of the three heads of the Council of Ten and the State Inquisitors (Sala dei Tre Capi and Sala dei Inquisitori) in the corner behind the large wooden compass (bussola) which gives the room its name. This room therefore served as a waiting room for those summoned to appear before these powerful magistrates. All rooms to do with the administration of justice were linked via corridors and vertically via staircases, from the Pozzi on the lowest floor up through law offices and courtrooms to the Piombi in the roof.
Also in this room is a Bocca di Leone - Lion's Mouth. These were secret letter drops where people made accusations of criminal activity such as tax evasion. They were decorated with the face of a lion, though this one is very worn.
Across the corridor and stairwell outside the Sala della Bussola is an Armoury consisting of several rooms.
Down to the first floor and outside the Chamber of the Great Council is the Liago. This was a wide corridor where more informal meetings might take place.
The Sala del Maggior Consiglio - Chamber of the Great Council - is the largest chamber in the palace. The Great Council was the oldest and most important political institution in Venice. Membership was open to all males over 25 years old belonging to patrician Venetian families and numbered between 1200 and 2000.
The Bridge of Sighs leads across the narrow Rio del Palazzo to the Prigioni Nuove - New Prisons. The bridge has two corridors separated by a wall - one going to the prison and one to return.
Each corridor has pierced stone windows from which prisoners could get a last fleeting glimpse of Venice on their way to jail.
The Doge's Palace of course already had prisons, the Wells and the Piombi, but in the mid sixteenth century it was decided to construct a new building across the Rio di Palazzo solely as a prison and magistrates' offices. Though the plan seems to have been to provide better accommodation for prisoners, the cells have been described as cramped ad the air unhealthy, not least because of the slop buckets in each cell. Vermin infested the walls behind the wooden panelling.
Prisoners were given two loaves of bread a day, though those who could afford it paid to have meals brought from affiliated taverns. They also had access to a doctor and medicines, which had to be paid for, either by the prisoner himself or by the state if they could not afford it.
Then it was back over the Bridge of Sighs, this time the view from the bridge was towards the Ponte della Paglia - always crowded with tourists in summer - and San Giorgio Maggiore.
It's a really interesting tour, especially the prisons, learning a lot about how the justice system worked in Renaissance Venice, highly recommended.
