THE SECRET ITINERARY & DOGES PALACE TOUR

Accompagnied by one of our local expert guides enjoy the most comprehensive tour of Venice's most important building, the Doges Palace. On our walking tour of the Doges Palace visit the sumptuous and splendidly decorated rooms of what used to be the " brain" that governed the Republic of Venice.

Its open architecture testifies to the unbeatable power of Venice, queen of the sea. While its lavish chambers display the immense wealth that the city possessed. And then, we will enter the Secret Itinerary of Doges Palace, behind the walls of the elaborately decorated hallways and chambers lay another world  closed to everyone but a few trusted men of the Republic!

As we tour the public rooms of the Doges Palace your eyes will be  captured by the beauty that is around you. You'll learn about the diverse roles played in society by the Doge and his counsellors, who helped create the many institutions that made Venice the most modern and liberal state in Europe. During the walking tour of the Doges Palace, you'll cross the famous bridge of sighs and visit the prisons of the Doge's Palace. You'll hear about the infamous council of ten, and be entertained by the legends and stories of the characters who played a role in creating the most serene of Republics. 

Lost in the the corridors of power lies a tall sturdy door that remains always locked! Behind that locked door lies the Secret Itinerary of the Doges Palace. A tour that takes you into the inner sanctums of the "brain of Venice" where you'll learn all the secrets of the Venetian Republic. Visit the Chancellors Office, the man responsible for writing all the secret documents of the Republic and learn how the Venetian guaranteed his loyalty!

You'll also see his offices were a multitude of Secret documents were kept and where you'll be able to admire the interior decorations of the rooms built by workmen from the Arsenale who applied their unique shipbuilding skills to a building on dry land.

The next stop on the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace is the gruesome Torture Chamber where enemies of the state would be tortured before the state inquisitors. Learn about the single form of torture that the Venetians used and still on display, and why no-one was able to resist the pain! And how prisoners awaiting the same punishment were entertained as they waited their turn! From the torture chamber we head up into "I Piombi" Prisons, so called because they lay directly below the lead roofs of the Doges Palace. These wooden cells beneath the lead roofs would be intolerably hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter months. 

It was in these cells that the famous lover Casanova was incarcerated and here you will learn about the trumped up charges that Casanova's enemies used against him to imprison the world's most famous lover. On our Secret itinerary of the Doges Palace tour we will see both the prison cells that Casanova spent time in and you will be entertained by the stories of his two attempts to escape and how finally, he made his way to freedom. While visiting the prisons we'll take a detour on our tour of the Doges Palace to enter the attic area of the Palace following a narrow gangway we will walk over the giant timbers dating from the 16th Century that support the roof. Here you will learn about how the Venetians ensured that their timber never rotted and how they were able to construct such a heavy structure without using any supporting structure!

The last two rooms of the Secret Itinerary of the Doges Palace belonged to the State inquisitors & three judges of the council of ten. Here we can again admire the works of Venetian masters Tintoretto & Veronese, along with some of the few original pieces of furniture to be found in the Doges Palace. Which includes a delightful cabinet for court documents with three keyholes that meant all three judges had to be present to open the cabinet. The Venetians fear of corruption knew no limts - which is probably why the Venetian Republic siurvived longer than any other, until its demise in 1797.