Doge's Palace Secret Itinerary Tour

[2ptu/000]

What is the best site to book this tour? Seems like different sites have different prices. Thanks

[euro cruiser]

I always go directly to the source, unless there is some additional service I need.

 

The official web site for the civic museums of Venice (of which the Doge's Palace is one) is here: http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/?lin=EN

[grvdggr71]

Should be 18 euros. We booked through the museum when we arrived in Venice, but it was in November (low season). It's an excellent tour, especially if you know anything about Casanova.

[carlmm]

Just a word of warning: Make sure to understand what the tour covers and if this is what you want to see. Otherwise you will be disappointed.

 

The tour does not include any of the rooms and pieces of art Venice is famous for.

It leads through small, dark rooms under the roof. It concentrates very much on triviality about Casanova.

 

The importance of the Doge's Palace lies within the other rooms, accessed with the simple normal ticket: All the rooms and halls were the power was executed and which are decorated by the greatest artist of their time.

See http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?id=2150&musid=8 for an example of the spendours to be seen in the Palace, but NOT in the Secret Itinerary tour.

[stinesheri]

I have to agree with Carlmm.

 

The tour description implied that you would see all of the Palace, plus the secret rooms and passages, and cross the Bridge of Sighs. Not exactly true.

 

You get a tour of 'secret' offices of minor government employees, the original jail cell of Casanova and the attic jail cell (which was unbearably hot in July), all while getting the history of Casanova. You go through a 'secret' door that was so uneventful, we didn't even realize we did it until the guide pointed it out. The staircases and passages you take are low and tight, and as mentioned before, during the summer, terribly hot. I felt a little sick in the attic jails (under the famous lead roof).

 

You do not see the beautiful public rooms, with all of the art, nor do you cross the Bridge of Sighs with your guide; you do that on your own, after the tour. This means that you do not have the benefit of the guide's knowledge during this part of the tour. You also have to then circle back to find the rooms you are looking for. The only public room you see if the Golden Staircase.

 

Do your self a favor, book the regular tour - we wish we did and will do so on our next trip to Venice. This tour is really only good for Casanova buffs.

 

(Oh, and slightly off topic - book your St. Marks Basilica tickets in advance on line for 1 Euro, and skip the horribly long line!)

[CathyCruises]

I have to agree too. Many wonderful comments on these boards led us to book tickets. But to be completely honest, I was waiting for it to be over (not THAT interesting) and I was dying to get back outside into beautiful Venice. We ended up rushing through the spectacular rooms searching for an exit. I think we would have been much better off just doing the general admission.

 

It was one of those situations where you try to be interested but just can't muster the enthusiasm for the small, dark, cramped rooms.

 

Don't want to burst the OP's bubble but I wish someone would have said this to me!

 

Cathy

[hubofhockey]

I have to agree too. Many wonderful comments on these boards led us to book tickets. But to be completely honest, I was waiting for it to be over (not THAT interesting) and I was dying to get back outside into beautiful Venice. We ended up rushing through the spectacular rooms searching for an exit. I think we would have been much better off just doing the general admission.

 

It was one of those situations where you try to be interested but just can't muster the enthusiasm for the small, dark, cramped rooms.

 

Don't want to burst the OP's bubble but I wish someone would have said this to me!

 

Cathy

 

That's interesting. A couple people on our roll call said the same thing after our cruise. Maybe we were lucky it was sold out when I tried to purchase ticket for that. We did the regular tour of Doges with the audioguide and that was a very full and complete tour. I guess that was more than enough for us.

[canuck.qc]

We booked the Secret It. Tour and found it interesting (talked of the political climate of the day etc...) We wanted to visit the entire Palace on our own so with the cost of this ticket you get reserved admission to the S.It.tour plus entry to the rest of the Palace. I can see if it were in the busy period it could feel confined & warm but we were there in May and found the guide informative.....

[euro cruiser]

I can imagine that it is pretty uncomfortable in that attic in the summer. I've taken this tour in November and late March and it was fine, but June, July and August must be pretty uncomfortable up there.

 

By the way, the first time I almost missed the fact that we were on the Bridge of Sighs. From the inside it looked like just another hallway.

[2ptu/000]

Thanks everyone, Going to think some more about doing this.

[rian90]

I read great reviews of this and just booked it yesterday..before seeing this thread. LOL

 

But then when we cruised to Belize, we loved the river trip to the ruins and most folks here on CC hated it. I am very glad we went ahead anyway.

 

I love history and this sounds interesting even if not filled with fancy art so I imagine we will enjoy the tour. I guess you need to decide what you like. If you like art better, you might be better off spending your time touring some of the places with fantastic art.

[CathyCruises]

You will most likely enjoy it--just be sure to allow enough time at the end of the tour to appreciate and enjoy the spectacular main palace rooms.

[carlmm]

I guess you need to decide what you like.

 

... and know what you will get.

 

I hope you will enjoy your tour, rian90!

 

For others who are interest in history, it might valuable to point out: Allmost all of the history presented in the tour are a few days in 1756 when Casanova flew from there.

 

A tour of the other rooms will cover 800 years of the rise, glory and fall of Venice.

 

(That is why I would not recommend the tour to anybody on a short first time visit. If one is in Venice for the fifth or sixth time or for two weeks, it can be sort of an add-on and a diversion. Yet it does not capture the essence of Venice.)

[FKGirl]

Agree with Euro Cruiser - buy your tickets here: http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/?lin=EN

 

As for the tour it is interesting, but you need to allow enough time after (or before) to enjoy te rest of the building. We made the mistake (although we knew it...) of going on the 11:30AM tour, so we were ready for lunch soon after the tour! :)

 

http://www.FloridaKeysGirl.com

[Andym]

I have to disagree, we really enjoyed the visit, we were shown lots of things that no one here has mentioned. We went into the armory and onto the ceiling of the great hall, and saw how the whole thing is suspended. We saw the torture chamber and we saw the jail cells in the attic. The mention of Casanova was only brief whilst we were by the cells.

 

Here is a full description

 

 

The tour starts from the offices of the Notaio Ducale (Doge’s secretary), the assistant to many of Venice’s ministers, and moves on to the rooms of the Deputato alla Segreta del Consiglio dei Diceci (literally ‘the Deputy of the secret works of the Council of Ten’) the keeper of the secret archives. The Council of Ten was the revolving council that ruled Venice. Now we move on to the office of the Grand Chancellor, the only official of Venice directly elected by the Grand Council. He was in charge of the main archives.

 

From here, we take the stairs to the room of the Cancelleria Segreta (Secret Chancellery). This is a superb room. Its walls were once covered with cupboards, stuffed with documents charting the public acts (and secret deals) made by the magistrates of the Republic. The upper doors are clad with mirrors, and bear the names and the coats of arms of the chancellors of the city from 1268 onward.

 

We move through the salon of the Reggente alla Cancelleria (Regent to the Chancellery) and to some of Venice’s darker secrets. Here we find the Torture Room, which joins directly to the gaol. On from here and we are in the Piombi (literally ‘the leads’). This area gets its name as it is sited under the lead roof of the palace. This was the original prison (before the new prison across the Bridge of Sighs) and continued to be used for certain offenders, typically political prisoners, those awaiting trial, or those on short sentences for lesser crimes. There were half a dozen cells here (stalls really) separated by wood partitions: it doesn’t sound too luxurious, but Casanova for one attested that the Piombi were far preferable to the Pozzi (‘the wells’): the dreaded cells in the basement of the Palazzo Ducale.

 

 

We head on to the Sottotetto (attic) at Ponte della Paglia. These occupy a corner site between the Rio di Palazzo and the Bacino di San Marco. This was once the location of a tower occupied by the Doge of the day. The walls bear coats of arms, mainly from the 1300s. We then descend the stairs from the Sottotetto to the Sala degli Inquisitori (the ‘Inquisitors’ Room’). The beautiful ceiling of the room, decorated by painter Tintoretto during 1566-67, belied its terrible function. The Sala housed the Inquisitori alla Propagazione dei Segreti dello Stato, a shadowy body of three men, founded in 1539, to protect state secrets … and to winkle out any transgressors. These ‘inquisitors for the maintenance of state secrets’ (secret policemen in fact) took ‘objectiveness, competence and efficiency’ as their watchwords. But their activities and their findings (uncovered by any means, including torture) remained hidden from the Venetian public.

 

 

And so we move to the Sala dei Tre Capi (literally the ‘room of the three heads’), a trio of magistrates chosen each month from the 10 men on the Consiglio dei Dieci. This is a further example of the periodic revolving of power within the Republic as a guard against any one man assuming too much sway. The superb ceiling was painted in 1553 and 1554 by Giambattista Zelotti, with the ante-rooms by Veronese and Giambattista Ponchino.

 

You are then free to explore the remainder of the palace. Your tour is likely to end at the Ponte dei Sospiri or Bridge of Sighs … the final walk of prisoners across the water to the ‘new prison’.

[tenmile]

I have to agree with Carlmm.

 

The tour description implied that you would see all of the Palace, plus the secret rooms and passages, and cross the Bridge of Sighs. Not exactly true.

 

You get a tour of 'secret' offices of minor government employees, the original jail cell of Casanova and the attic jail cell (which was unbearably hot in July), all while getting the history of Casanova. You go through a 'secret' door that was so uneventful, we didn't even realize we did it until the guide pointed it out. The staircases and passages you take are low and tight, and as mentioned before, during the summer, terribly hot. I felt a little sick in the attic jails (under the famous lead roof).

 

You do not see the beautiful public rooms, with all of the art, nor do you cross the Bridge of Sighs with your guide; you do that on your own, after the tour. This means that you do not have the benefit of the guide's knowledge during this part of the tour. You also have to then circle back to find the rooms you are looking for. The only public room you see if the Golden Staircase.

 

Do your self a favor, book the regular tour - we wish we did and will do so on our next trip to Venice. This tour is really only good for Casanova buffs.

 

(Oh, and slightly off topic - book your St. Marks Basilica tickets in advance on line for 1 Euro, and skip the horribly long line!)

 

I know the St. Marks Basilica tour is free, but do we need a ticket? We also want to see the St. Mark's Museum, the Treasury and the Golden Altar, all which require additional costs. Can we book and buy those tickets ahead of time? If so, will you give me the website. I didn't see anywhere to purchase Basilica tickets when I bought our Secret Itinerary tour tickets on the official website.

Thanks for the info.

[euro cruiser]

While the ticket is free, there is a 1 Euro internet booking fee. The site is here: http://www.venetoinside.com/en/basilica_of_san_marco/

[tenmile]

Thank you for the information!