Things You Can´t Miss at the Doge's Palace in Venice

The Doge's Palace is one of the main tourist attractions in Venice, an obligatory stop for all visitors, and it is almost impossible to find St. Mark's Square without tourists even during the off-peak seasons. The reason for the popularity of this unique building is due to two main reasons: the breathtaking beauty of its architecture and the great amount of works of art that it houses inside.

If you already have your tickets for the Doge's Palace, here are the highlights you should not miss, so that you can enjoy the tour even more.

Housed in what was once a technical office in charge of maintenance work at the Palace, the Opera Museum exhibits important pieces from the Palace's past. Throughout its history, the Doge's Palace has been restructured several times due to fires, structural failures and the deterioration of time.

From 1876 onwards, a major restoration plan was launched: it covered the two main façades and the capitals on the ground floor. 42 capitals were replaced by copies, the originals after extensive repairs were placed with the other sculptures of the façade in the Opera Museum. This space is ideal for admiring close-up details of original pieces that would be impossible to see in other settings.

The Doge's Palace is among the most important monuments of Venice of the Serenissima. While it is true that all the elements that make up the exterior façade of the Doge's Palace correspond to impressive architectural landmarks and true Venetian icons, it is no less true that the inner courtyard is equally impressive. From this area you can appreciate at a glance the internal façades of the three wings of the Palace.

The Porta della Carta is the element that leads through the Arco Foscari from St. Mark's Square to the central courtyard. The entire façade of the courtyard is clearly a Renaissance work with a rich succession of arcades and ornaments made of pilasters, friezes and oculi. Next to the Arco del Foscari is the beautiful clock façade, built in 1615 by Monopola.

At the Doge's Palace the details are everywhere you look; two important highlights are its main staircases.

Staircase of the Giants

It connects the central inner courtyard of the palace with the internal logic on the first floor. It was, in former times, the space where the traditional ducal coronation ceremony was performed. Crowned at the top with two colossal statues (the giants) who represented the dominion of the great Venice over land and sea. The statues carved in marble by Sansovino represent Mars and Neptune and were placed in 1567.

Golden Staircase

Also called the Golden Staircase, it is the natural continuation of the Staircase of the Giants and is located inside the Palace. It is named after the rich decorations in white stucco and gold leaf that cover the vault above the inner staircase, executed by Alessandro Vittoria. The two flights of golden stairs connect the loggia floor with the two upper floors, each of which is welcomed by a vestibule with large windows.

Built over a period of 15 years between 1340 and 1355, the Hall of the Great Council is considered the most impressive interior space in the Palace, both for its size and for its harmonious proportions and rich decoration. It was used as the seat of the Venetian Chamber of Parliament which implies that, over the centuries, all major decisions involving the city were taken here.

When you visit the Doge's Palace and the Sala del Maggior Consiglio you should pay special attention to the ceiling, full of hand-painted panels by Veronese depicting the Venetian city surrounded by the gods and being crowned by Victory. As for the art on the walls you could find works by painters such as Bellini, Titian and Pisanello but much of your work was destroyed in the fire of 1577.

Located on the first floor of the Palazzo, the name Quattro Pote refers to the four doors, adorned with fine marble and beautiful sculptures, which serve as access to the hall, and one of the most beautiful architectural features of the entire hall. It was designed by one of the most important Venetian architects of the time, Andrea Palladio; inside the hall you will find frescoes by Tintoretto on the ceiling and paintings by Titian and Tiepolo on the walls.

Before the fire this hall was the seat of the College where the meetings of the lordship were held, later it became the waiting room for the audiences of the Senate and the Signoria.

The Sala dell'Anticollegio was once the hall of honour preceding the residence of the Signoria. The decorative and architectural elements of this hall are also the result of post-fire work based on the designs of Palladio and Rusconi.

The art in the hall is a magnificent vault covered with richly elaborated stuccoes and frescoes by Paolo Veronese. Of particular interest and importance for the history of art are the canvases on the walls displaying works by some of the most important Venetian artists of the 16th century, such as Tintoretto and Jacopo Bassano.

The Sala del Collegio is the space inside the Doge's Palace where the meetings of the Cabinet were held in the presence of the Doge; this luxurious hall is also where important visitors were received. The harmony exhibited by its rich interior decoration and the details everywhere you look have earned it the title of the most beautiful room in the Palace.

The interior features several interesting elements such as the ceiling vault whose eleven paintings are considered the most famous and outstanding work of Paolo Varonesse; the works in turn framed with elaborate wood carvings by talented craftsmen such as Francesco Bello and Andrea da Faenza.

Pay special attention to the great Veronese painting of 1578 displayed in this room showing the Doge giving thanks for the victory over the Turks, and finally the murals by Tintoretto and his pupils adorn the walls.

The Sala delle Quattro Porte is the area leading to the Sala del Senato, a sumptuous hall with beautiful decorations that served as a meeting place for the Venetian Senate. It was here that political guidelines and all kinds of important decisions that would define the life and future of Venice were made.

On the artistic level, this room is described by Venetian art experts as "rich and solemn" due to its splendid inlay and the use of the colour gold in the decoration. The room was designed by Andrea Palladio, and when you visit this majestic space you will find, as in the rest of the Doge's Palace, exquisite works of art by artists such as Tintoretto and Jacopo Palma.

Don't leave the Doge's Palace without visiting the Consiglio dei Dieci, a space that shows a slightly darker side to the history of this beautiful city. The Hall of the Council of Ten was a sort of secret state court that worked in conjunction with the Venetian secret police to control all aspects of public and private life in the city.

In our times nothing remains of the original furnishings of the hall. With its wood panelling and exquisite paintings, you should pay special attention to the frescoes on the luxurious ceiling, including Veronese's "Jupiter hurling lightning bolts against the vices" (a copy, as the original was confiscated by Napoleon and is in the Louvre) and "Juno offering the ducal crown to Venice", also by Veronese.

If you have a taste for strange objects from times gone by or if you have any kind of interest in Venice's military past, don't miss the Armoury room in the Doge's Palace.

Initially used as a simple storehouse for armaments, today the room has been refurbished and arranged to present an extraordinary collection of 15th and 16th century armour, crossbows, swords and maces. Here you will also find rudimentary firearms of the period, one of them called an arquebus considered by historians to be the forerunner of the modern machine gun.

Considered one of the masterpieces of Venetian Gothic architecture, the first thing you should admire in the Doge's Palace is its imposing façades. The heavy structure seems to be an allegory of Venice, where the solid mass that makes up the top floor of the palace stands on delicate columns of Istrian marble.

Facade towards the quay

Considered one of the two main façades of the palace, the quay façade is 71.5 metres long and is developed over 17 arches. The first two colonnaded levels are crowned on the surface by an imposing floor of inlaid marble on which are placed elegant windows with pointed arches. On this side is the public entrance to the palace, through the Porta del Frumento.

Facade towards the Piazzetta

Almost identical in form and design to the façade of the quay, the façade towards the piazza is slightly longer at 75 metres and was built in later years.

Facade facing the Rio di Palazzo

The most recent wing of the complex is the lateral façade facing the Rio di Palazzo, built in 1483 after the fire that devastated a large part of the Palazzo Ducale. On this façade was placed the famous Bridge of Sighs that connects the Palace to the new prisons.

The large gate serves as a connecting point between the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica. Its name translates into English as "Letter Gate" and it is believed to come from the times when Venetians used to wait in front of it to present their petitions to the authorities.

Created in the 15th century by the Bon brothers, it is considered, along with Ca' d' Oro, to be one of the finest manifestations of the Venetian florid Gothic style. The majestic gate displays hand-carved ornamental figures with an allegorical figure of the duxFrancesco Foscari kneeling before the Lion of St Mark and the statues of Adam and Eve. The decorative sculptural section of the gate was once painted in gilding; it is complemented by the ornamentation of columns, niches and turrets.

The Bridge of Sighs was built in 1614 to connect the Ducal Palace with the building destined for the New Prisons. The bridge crosses the Rio del Palazzo and its external architecture, which cannot be seen on an internal tour, shows clear baroque influences. If you want to appreciate the architecture of the bridge in detail you should go to the façade of the quay, and go up to the Ponte della Paglia, from where you can take magnificent photographs of the Ponte dei Sospiri.

The unique name was coined for the small windows that make up the closed structure of the beautiful bridge. Some stories tell that through these gaps of light, the hopeless condemned would gaze for the last time at the beautiful lagoon and sigh in fear of the fate that awaited them.

Regular admission to the Doge's Palace does not include access to the prison area or to the space where, in 1755, the intrepid Giacomo Casanova made his legendary escape. However, some private tours and excursions take small groups of tourists through the dank and dimly lit underground cells of the palace.

Access to this area is via the Bridge of Sighs, ranked as one of the most beautiful of all Venetian bridges. If you have the opportunity to walk through the gloomy and uninhabitable prisons you will understand the despair and anguish of the condemned souls who suffered the agony of imprisonment in their own flesh.

In cell number 10 of the pozzi, Riccardo Perucolo was imprisoned in 1549, accused of Lutheran heresy during the time of the Inquisition. Years later, a painting of Riccardo was found buried in the earth and lime.