Doge's Palace

Seen from the lagoon, the Doge's Palace does something no textbook building should: its heavy, nearly solid upper storey sits on two tiers of delicate Gothic arcades, as if the palace were balanced on lace. That inversion is the signature of Venetian Gothic, and this is its grandest example. For nearly a thousand years the palace was the seat of the Doge and the government of the Republic of Venice, holding council chambers, law courts, offices and prisons as well as the Doge's own apartments.

A ducal palace stood here from the early 9th century, but almost nothing of the first buildings survives. The present Gothic structure was begun around 1340 on the waterfront wing, extended along the Piazzetta from 1424 under Doge Francesco Foscari, and given its ceremonial entrance, the Porta della Carta by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon, in 1438–1442. Fires in 1483, 1574 and 1577 destroyed whole suites of rooms and paintings by Bellini, Carpaccio and Titian. After the last one Venice chose to rebuild in the original Gothic style rather than adopt a classical design submitted by Andrea Palladio. The palace became a museum in 1923.

Inside the courtyard, the Giants' Staircase is guarded by Sansovino's colossal Mars and Neptune, symbols of Venetian power on land and at sea. The upper floors are a procession of gilded ceilings and huge canvases by Tintoretto, Veronese and Palma il Giovane, culminating in the Chamber of the Great Council, 53 metres long and 25 metres wide, one of the largest rooms in Europe. Above the Doge's throne hangs Tintoretto's Paradise, and behind it restorers found remnants of the 14th-century fresco by Guariento that it replaced. The original 14th- and 15th-century capitals of the arcades, replaced by copies in the 1870s, are displayed at eye level in the Museo dell'Opera.

A corridor leads over the Bridge of Sighs, built shortly after 1600, to the New Prisons across the canal. The name is a Romantic-era invention, imagining prisoners catching a last glimpse of the lagoon through its stone grilles. Back in the palace, the cells under the lead roof, the Piombi, were where Giacomo Casanova was held before his famous escape.

Getting there

The palace faces the lagoon beside St Mark's Basilica, about 0.7 km from the centre of Venice as the crow flies; the public entrance is the Porta del Frumento on the waterfront side. Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) is about 8 km away across the lagoon, and its Alilaguna water shuttles, including an express line to Piazza San Marco, run directly into the city.