Doge’s Palace Secret Itineraries

The route begins in the large, bright courtyard of Doge's Palace, decorated with precious marble. A narrow ground-floor doorway leads into the Pozzi, the grim detention cells: cramped, dark and damp, poorly ventilated and secured by heavy bolts. Each contained only a pallet, a shelf and a bucket. Inscriptions and drawings on the walls reveal the prisoners' despair and longing for freedom.

A staircase leads to two connected rooms used by the Ducal Notary and the official responsible for the secret archive of the Council of Ten. The route continues to the office of the Grand Chancellor, head of the General Archive, then to the Secret Chancellery Room with cabinets containing public and confidential documents, and finally to the Torture Chamber linked to the prisons.

From the Torture Chamber the route enters the Piombi, cells beneath the lead roof used for political prisoners of the Council of Ten, often awaiting trial or serving lighter sentences. Described by Casanova, these cells were more habitable than the Pozzi. The route continues through the attic above the Ponte della Paglia and into the Hall of the State Inquisitors, a secret body established in 1539 and decorated with works by Tintoretto.

The Three Heads were magistrates selected each month from the Council of Ten. They prepared trials and implemented the Council’s decisions according to priorities they established. The ceiling decoration, completed between 1553 and 1554, is attributed to Giambattista Zelotti, Veronese and Giambattista Ponchino.