See the best of Doge's Palace in Venice on a 2-hour skip-the-line tour! With a priority-access ticket, you won't waste time standing in line. Walk right past the long queue with your guide, and enjoy a tour that combines the palace's magnificent public rooms with rare access to the Piombi attic prison and the Bridge of Sighs. See Italian Renaissance artwork and learn about the darker deeds of the city's former rulers on this Doge's Palace tour with a difference!
Your tour begins at Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), from where you'll stroll over to the elegant Doge’s Palace with your expert guide. Conveniently, your skip-the-line Doge’s Palace tickets offer fast-track entrance, so you'll walk straight past the long lines outside.
Easily Venice's most famous building, Doge’s Palace (or Palazzo Ducalo in Italian) is a mesmerizing example of Venetian Gothic architecture at its finest. Created in the 14th century for the doges of Venice, the rulers of the former Venetian Republic, the palace contains elaborately decorated public rooms alongside darker hidden chambers.
Start your 2-hour Doge’s Palace tour by exploring these ornate public rooms, where you'll see how the successive doges made their palace even more impressive with art by 15th-century Italian Renaissance artists. Gaze at Tintoretto's magnificent ceiling frescos, and see Veronese masterpieces such as the Virtues of the Republic. As you walk through the Trial Chambers of the Council of Ten, your guide will point out the vibrant ceiling panel, Juno Bestowing her Gifts on Venice, and the room's dark corner where accusations of treachery were passed to the secret service.
Next, it’s on to the Piombi, the ancient attic prison that traditionally held Venice's upper-class inmates under a lead-cased roof. The Piombi is rarely open to members of the public; enjoy an exclusive walk around these eerie chambers where Giacomo Casanova, Venice's legendary lover, was cruelly imprisoned.
By the 16th century, the attic prison cells were replaced by the New Prisons, although these horrifying chambers hardly fit the name by today's standards! The New Prisons were joined to Doge’s Palace by the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri), named to signify the prisoners’ sighs as they caught their last glimpse of beautiful Venice. You'll walk across the Bridge of Sighs and explore the New Prisons with your guide before your tour ends.