Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The cavernous 1419
Sala del Maggior Consiglio
(Grand Council Hall) features the doge's
throne with a 22m-by-7m
Paradise
backdrop (by Tintoretto's son Domenico) that's more
politically correct than pretty: heaven is crammed with 500 prominent Venetians, includ-
ing several Tintoretto patrons. Veronese's political posturing is more elegant in his oval
Apotheosis of Venice
ceiling, where gods marvel at Venice's coronation by angels, with
foreign dignitaries and Venetian blondes rubbernecking on the balcony below.
SECRET PASSAGES TOUR
Discover Venice's state secrets in the Palazzo Ducale attic on a fascinating 75-minute guided tour: Itinerari
Segreti (see museum website for times). Follow your guide up the Scala d'Oro and through a hidden passageway
into the cramped, unadorned Council of Ten Secret Headquarters. Beyond this ominous office suite, the vast
Chancellery is lined with drawers of top-secret files, including reports by Venice's far-reaching spy network, ac-
cusations by Venetians against their neighbours, and judgements copied in triplicate by clerks. The accused were
led into the windowless Interrogation Room, where until 1660 confessions were sometimes extracted from pris-
oners dangling from a rope. Upstairs lie the Piombi (Leads), the attic prison cells where Casanova was con-
demned to five years' confinement in 1756 for corrupting nuns and the more serious charge of spreading Freema-
sonry. As described in his memoirs, Casanova made an ingenious escape through the roof, then convinced a guard
he was an official locked into the palace overnight. He would later return to Venice, enlisted as a spy for the
Council of Ten.
Prisons
Only visitors on the
Secret Passages
tour can access the secret Council of Ten headquarters
and
Piombi
attic prison. Pass through the
Sala del Magistrato alle Leggi
(Hall of the Legal Magis-
trate), featuring ominous scenes by the master of apocalyptic visions, Hieronymus Bosch.
Follow the path of condemned prisoners across the
Ponte dei Sospiri
(Bridge of Sighs) to
Venice's 16th-century
Priggione Nove
(New Prisons). Dank cells are covered with graffitied
protestations of innocence and paved with marble stolen in a state-sanctioned heist: the
sacking of Constantinople.
