Secret Itineraries Guided Tour (Tickets Included)

• Visit with a qualified Tour leader
• Skip the line and don't waste your time
• Discover the secret Rooms of the State activities
• Stay inside how long you want after the guided tour

From the large courtyard of the Ducal Palace, first of all you enter into the Wells, small bare cells with oil lamps and small windows; from here through a narrow staircase you get into two rooms that housed important officials, the Ducal Notary and the Deputy to the Secret of the Council of Ten. The first one performed as a secretary of the various magistratures, the second one took care of the private archive.

There is then the Office of the Great Chancellor, chief of the General Archive, and from here a staircase leads to the beautiful Room of the Secret Chancellery, with walls completely covered with cabinets where were stored the public and the secret acts (the upper doors are decorated with the coats of arms and the names of the chancellors from 1268).

Crossing the Room of the Deputy to the Chancellery, you enter into the Torture Room, directly connected to the prisons; the most used tools was the rope to which the accused was hung up and pulled by his arms tied behind his back.

Then you arrive to the Piombi zone which takes its name from the roof made of lead, where there were the cells described by Giacomo Casanova who was imprisoned here, and reserved for prisoners of political crimes, or not serious ones, or awaiting the trial.

So you get to visit the big subceiling with the attractive wooden trusses where are exposed numerous weapons, crossbows etc... and then the Room of the Inquisitors, magistracy established in 1539 consisting in three members who had to guarantee objectivity and absolute secrecy about their activities and on the facts of which they were aware. The ceiling is decorated with paintings on canvas by Tintoretto made between 1566 and 1567.

You find then the Room of the Three Chiefs, magistrates chosen every month among the ten members of the Council, whose ceiling was made between 1553 and 1554 by Giambattista Zelotti (central octagon) and Veronese with Giambattista Ponchino (lateral parts); here you can notice a secret passage by which it was possible to enter the Room of the Council of Ten.

The following options can be purchased in addition to the tickets in the booking Wizard on this website.

Reduced/Half Ticket:
(valid identity document needed at the entrance)

• Children from 6 to 14 years
• Students from 15 to 25 years
• Citizens over 65 years
• Citizens and residents in the Venice Municipality

1. The ticket is valid 1 day, starting from entrance time. After the guided tour you can stay inside as long as you want until closing time of the Palace.

2. The tickets will be sent via email within 24-48 hours after purchase (on weekdays) with instructions on how to get there and what to do to enter.

3. We inform you that, once booked, the date and time selected are binding. 15 minutes before the starting time, meet the guide at the entrance of Ducal Palace. Who does not respect the time booked will not enter.

4. The tour is conducted only in Italian, English and French.

5. The visit is not recommended for those who suffer from claustrophobia, vertigo and breathing problems, or for pregnant women.

6. Entry is permitted only from 6 years old.