The palace of the Serenissima and its prisons
For almost a thousand years the Palazzo Ducale was the heart of the Republic of Venice, the Serenissima: residence of the Doge, seat of the government, the courts and the prisons. Its present appearance, a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic, dates from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: a pink and white marble façade that seems to float above two levels of open arcades, with the Porta della Carta, the ceremonial entrance, beside the basilica.
Inside you climb the Scala dei Giganti and the Scala d'Oro, with gilded stucco, to the institutional rooms, decorated by the great Venetian painters. The Sala del Maggior Consiglio, one of the largest rooms in Europe, holds Tintoretto's Paradise, one of the largest oil paintings in the world, and the portraits of 76 doges, with a black veil in place of Marino Faliero, executed for treason. From the palace the Bridge of Sighs, in white stone, crosses the canal to the New Prisons: according to the romantic legend, it was named after the sighs of the condemned, who saw the lagoon for the last time from its windows. Giacomo Casanova escaped from the "Piombi", the cells under the roof, in 1756.
Tip: the "Secret Itineraries" tour leads to the hidden rooms, offices and the cell of Casanova; book well in advance.
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