The Covid Diaries 37, Venice Edition: The Doge’s Palace

Review of a visit to the Doge’s Palace in Venice in Summer 2020. In which there were a lot of nice ceilings, but for me the highlight was the prison.

The Doge’s Palace: One of the ‘Main Sites’ of a Trip to Venice.

The Doge’s Palace was a site I knew I should visit in Venice, along with the Basilica San Marco. The latter was closed for renovations of some kind when I was there recently, with only the museum open. So I thought I would save that for another time and just hit up the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale). I think this was a good call – there’s only so much information and splendour you can take in at once.

The Palazzo Ducale is just off the Piazza San Marco in Venice. It’s on the waterfront (isn’t everywhere?), and is in Venetian gothic style. During the time of the Venetian Republic, this was the residence of the Doge. The Doge was at the pinnacle of a very complicated system of government with many layers of councils. A dominant set of ruling families seemed to take up all the spots in different configurations. I read somewhere that, like many complicated power structures, the Doge was not actually the most powerful person in government. Apparently it tended to be the lesser ruling families whose members ended up nominated to this position; there were knock-on impacts that reduced the titles that the rest of the clan could hold. Nonetheless, the Doge lived in a lovely palace, entertained foreign dignitaries, and took part in unusual ceremonies like the annual Marriage of the Sea.

Many Opulent Rooms to See (Plus Some Great Paintings)

There were various palaces preceding this one, but the current Doge’s Palace dates back to 1340 or so. There was a lot of rebuilding after fires in 1483, 1547, 1577, etc. As well as being a residence, it was an official building and so the location of various ceremonies of state. That is, at least until the Napoleonic invasion at which time the seat of power was moved further along St Mark’s Square (although the Palace was still used for various official purposes). It has been run as a museum since 1923.

In terms of what there is to see, as you can imagine this is quite a lot. There are endless state rooms, paintings by Titian and all the other regular Venetian artists. There are fabulous decorated ceilings, an armoury, and a few bits of furniture (but very few – not much in this direction at all). This last point tends to make the experience of visiting the Doge’s Palace a little sterile. It’s just cavernous room after cavernous room, and quite hard to imagine their original purpose and usage. Nonetheless there are some interesting artworks and historic anecdotes. Top tip: if you hang around the fringes of some of the guided tours you can overhear the salient points.

Doge’s Palace Highlight: The Bridge of Sighs and Prison

The parts that I found to be a bit more unique and interesting were the Bridge of Sighs and prison. The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) was built in 1614 as a covered walkway over to where the new prison was being constructed. There was an old prison but they had run out of room. It’s a peculiar experience looking out of the latticed stonework towards the lagoon when crossing the bridge, with all the tourists unknowingly taking pictures of you. The surprising thing about the prison when you get to the other side is how many cells there are. You go up and down stairs, around corridors, and still they keep coming. The Venetian justice system must have been a busy one.

Covid Measures and Final Thoughts

There is a one-way system in place at the Doge’s Palace currently. This is presumably stricter due to Covid-19 but is almost always the case in this sort of large museum building; there’s generally something plotted out to get all the visitors around the key sites and back outside efficiently. I suspect that due to Covid they have reversed the direction of travel. I found it hard to figure out where I was in the Palace at any given time because the description in my guidebook was more or less backwards, so I think you probably normally start somewhere else but they have found a more socially distanced way of doing things. It seems to be an Italian thing that every single room has hand sanitizer rather than just at entry/exit points and thoroughfares, so you’re in safe hands (no pun intended).

So I don’t really recommend or not recommend the Doge’s Palace if you’re in Venice. It’s one of those things that’s almost a given that you go to and is interesting to see. So if you are there and have the opportunity then it’s certainly not wasted time. Perhaps a guided tour would help to bring it to life a bit more, and they do seem to be running at the moment so I’m sure you can find one online. And then, like me, you can pause in your Venetian wanderings when you see the Bridge of Sighs with the knowledge of what it’s like to walk across it towards all those cramped little cells.

On its own merits: 3/5
Implementing Covid rules: 4/5