Palazzo Ducale

Lonely Planet review

Welcome to the command centre of the Venetian Republic. The Doge's Palace, a rare example of civil Venetian Gothic, was home to the doge (duke) and all arms of government, including prisons, for much of the thousand or so years of the Republic. Two magnificent Gothic facades in white Istrian stone and pink Veronese marble face Piazzetta San Marco.

Established in the 9th century, the building began to assume its present form some 500 years later. From the main courtyard, you ascend several stairways to reach the Appartamento del Doge (Duke's Apartments). The apartments are followed by a succession of increasingly grandiose state rooms culminating in the immense Sala del Maggiore Consiglio (featuring Tintoretto's Paradiso , one of the world's largest oil paintings, and Veronese's Apotheosis of Venice ).

A trail of corridors leads you to the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) that connects to the Prigioni Nuove (New Prisons) built on the east side of the canal to cater for overflow from the Prigioni Vecchie (Old Prisons) in the palace itself. Among the latter were the Piombi ('the Leads') in the roof, where legendary 18th-century philanderer Giacomo Casanova did some time. Breathe a sigh of relief and exit from the main entrance, the gloriously Gothic Porta della Carta.