SIGHTS TO SIGH FOR

As the last visitors head for the exit and the doors begin to close, slip into the Doge’s Palace for a private after hours viewing. Our special reservation guarantees exclusive entry allowing our guests to explore the magnificent halls of this architectural masterpiece when the site is out-of-bounds to the general public. Your guide will lead you right to the heart of Venice’s political power and animate your visit with true tales of scandal, conspiracy and assassination that took place right here.

Today a museum, the Doge’s Palace was once the residence of the powerful Venetian rulers as well as the seat of government, courtrooms, armories and jails. The earliest nucleus of this impressive complex originated in the 14th century although what we can admire today is mostly the result of lavish and masterly reworkings carried out during the Renaissance and Mannerist epochs. Follow your guide through the splendid marble courtyard, up the gold-vaulted staircase, past the doges’ private apartments into the Hall of the Great Council. Measuring 53 x 25 metres, this hall is among the largest in Europe and is also the most grandiose room in Venice. Here, the plenary assemblies of the Venetian Republic’s most important political institution were once held. Between 1,200 and 2,000 noblemen gathered in this chamber to discuss crucial matters, make sure rules were respected and keep a check on the work of other governing bodies whose power and authority might otherwise spiral out of control. The hall also hosted the preliminary phases of the complicated election procedures of a new doge. An allegorical depiction of the Triumph of Venice by Veronese will draw your gaze to the ceiling while on the wall behind the doge’s throne you will see one of the widest canvas paintings in the world, the Paradise, created by Jacopo Tintoretto and his son Domenico between 1588 and 1592. To this duo we also owe the portraits of Venice’s first 76 doges represented on the frieze that runs beneath the ceiling. Each doge holds a scroll bearing an inscription that refers to his own significant accomplishments. One of the portraits has been replaced by a black veil… a puzzle you can unravel in situ.

The last stop on this gripping trail will lead you to the Bridge of Sighs. Built in 1614 to connect the interrogation rooms to the prisons, its name, far from evoking romantic murmurs, recalls the desperate sobs of convicts staggering from the courts to their cells and whispering a final farewell to the lagoon, as they crossed the bridge.