Venice, the Doge's Palace

The white and rose-colored marble Palazzo Ducale, the Doge’s Palace, stands in the historical heart of Venice, St. Mark’s Square, adjacent to St. Mark’s Basilica. This masterpiece of gothic architecture, with its Istrian stone arcades, and delicate pointed arches and quadrilobes, gave an impressive greeting for ancient mariners as they approached the city. Beginning in the 9th century until the fall of the Republic in 1797, the Palace served as the home of the Doge, the chief magistrate and leader of the city-state, as well as the governmental headquarters and hall of justice.

The castle which originally stood here was rebuilt several times, and the look of the palace we see today, designed by Filippo Calendario, dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. Two facades face the Venetian Lagoon and St Mark's Square, or actually the Piazzetta, the area of the Piazza just in front of the lagoon, while the other facades face an interior courtyard.

On the Piazzetta side of the Palace is the Porta della Carta created by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon in 1442. An enormous gothic entryway, the Porta leads to the central courtyard and the Giant’s staircase with its statutes of Mars and Neptune. The door, which means “document gate” was commissioned by Doge Francesco Foscari, whose image is carved at the top kneeling in front of Saint Mark’s lion. It was from this grand door that the Doge and his ministers entered the Piazza during the religious and political processions that were so characteristic of the Republic.

As opposed to most Italian palaces constructed with strong bases during the Middle Ages, the Doge’s palace has full walls standing on top of open loggias. On the arches of the loggia are thirty-six stone capitals, with carvings of astrological signs, animals, and saints, as well as vices and virtues. The Doge used to stand in this open-air corridor to witness public executions carried out in the Piazzetta. Death sentences were announced from under the ninth arch, which is noticeable for its red-colored marble.

Today the palace is a museum, where you can visit the Doge’s private chambers, the enormous governmental meeting rooms with paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese, and the prisons that sit below all this grandeur. There is also a special tour with a “secret itinerary” in which you can see where the day-to-day operations of the government were carried out, the prisoners’ interrogation rooms, and the torture chamber.

To the right of the Palace is the Bridge of Sighs. This enclosed arched bridge over the Rio di Palazzo connects the first floor of the Doge’s Palace with the first floor of the prison. Built in 1602, the view from this bridge was the last sight the convicted saw before being imprisoned. It’s been said that if lovers share a kiss while passing under the bridge at sunset, they’ll enjoy lifelong happiness together. Quite a contrast to the fate of the poor prisoners.