Doge's Palace

Most of the time when I walked by the famous Doge's Palace there was quite a long line of people waiting to get in, and it wasn't included on the two tours I was signed up to take. But after getting back from the island boat tour there was absolutely no line. I walked right in! I had no idea what it was all about or what a Doge even was, but it came highly recommended as something to see, so see it I did. Then I did some research.

The Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) is  palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice, opening as a museum in 1923.

Doge's Palace with the Paglia Bridge in the foreground.

For more than 1,000 years, the chief magistrate and leader of the city of Venice and later of the Most Serene Republic of Venice was styled the Doge, a rare but not unique Italian title derived from the Latin Dux. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. The doge was neither a military man nor an autocratic ruler. The doge was the head of state, but acted in essence as the highest-level servant of the Republic. 

The doge's power and responsibilities varied throughout the ages, though he was the only one who could attend meetings of any government organization, and the only man allowed to read all the republic's secret files. 

Eventually he served mainly as a sort of presidential figure, the official head of state and a fulcrum balancing the other powers of the various interlocking ruling circles of senates, councils, ages, colleges, inquisitors, and judges, all of which were made up from the city's nobility and commercial elite.

The Bridge of Sighs

A corridor leads over the Bridge of Sighs, built in 1614 to link the Doge’s Palace to the structure intended to house the New Prisons. Enclosed and covered on all sides, the bridge contains two separate corridors that run next to each other. The famous name of the bridge dates from the Romantic period and was supposed to refer to the sighs of prisoners who, passing from the courtroom to the cell in which they would serve their sentence, took a last look at freedom as they glimpsed the lagoon and San Giorgio through the small windows. In the mid-16th century it was decided to build a new structure on the other side of the canal to the side of the palace which would house prisons.

From the inside of the Bridge of Sighs

Looking out of some prison bars back at the Bridge of Sighs.

Before getting to the prison pictures, I want to show the elaborate decor and paintings of the Palace. It was overwhelming.

So secrets could be passed back and forth between the councils.

The armory went on room after room after room.

The largest oil painting in the world - Tintoretto's Paradise

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

These are only about one fourth of the pictures I took in the Doge's Palace. Like I said, overwhelming. I crossed over the Bridge of Sighs into the prisons and they were dreary.

I would definitely say the Doge's Palace is worth a visit.