Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale)

The Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) on Piazza San Marco in the San Marco district of Venice, Veneto, was the political and judicial heart of the Republic of Venice. A fortified residence stood on the site from the 9th century, but the present Venetian Gothic building took shape from about 1340, when work began on the Sala del Maggior Consiglio wing facing the lagoon, and continued into the 15th century with the ornate Porta della Carta, completed in 1442. After fires in 1547 and 1577 destroyed much of the interior decoration, artists including Tintoretto, Veronese and Palma il Giovane redecorated the state rooms. The Sala del Maggior Consiglio holds Tintoretto's enormous Paradiso, often described as among the largest oil paintings in the world, and a frieze of portraits of the first 76 doges, including the black veil covering the place of Marino Faliero, executed for treason in 1355. Architecturally the palace is unusual: a heavy upper storey of pink and white Istrian marble diamond patterning rests on an open arcade and loggia, giving a light, lace-like effect. The courtyard contains the Scala dei Giganti, where doges were crowned, and the Scala d'Oro leads to the state apartments. The visit is largely thematic and route-based, moving from the doge's apartments through the legislative chambers, the Armoury with its collection of weapons and armour, and across the Bridge of Sighs to the Prigioni Nuove, the 16th-century prisons where Giacomo Casanova was once held. The palace became a museum after the fall of the Republic and Austrian and Italian rule, and it is now run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. Restoration campaigns over the 19th and 20th centuries repaired the facade, stone columns and ceilings, and conservation of the paintings and gilded ceilings continues, with some rooms occasionally closed for works. The Secret Itineraries guided tour, booked separately, opens hidden staircases, the chancery offices and the attic cells known as the Piombi.