Loading...Back when Venice ran things in the region, it was ruled by an aristocratic republic. 480 members of key families served on the Major Council and elected the Doge, who was basically a figurehead for the Republic. Real power lay in the hands of the Council of 10 and the Supreme Tribunal of three state investigators who operated in secret and controlled the populace by encouraging citizens to denounce each other for major and minor crimes.
The Doge’s palace is an ornate building, showing off the opulence of the Republic with gilded ceilings, oil paintings and sumptuous furnishings. The “Secret Itinerary” tour goes behind the scenes to the drab rooms, cramped offices and torture chamber where all the dirty work of government was done. Secret documents were stored in secret cabinets and handled by secret secretaries and their secret clerks. It was all very secretive- at least according to our tour guide who, Lauren suspected, received a bonus every time she used the word “secret”.
Even though all the “secret” talk was laid on a bit thick and a lot of attention was given to Casanova- the most famous resident of the prison cells near the roof of the palace, the tour was quite interesting. Two things in particular stuck with me- the first was the attic above the Great Council Hall. The Great Council Hall is a huge open room, over 12 meters high, with no internal supports. The attic above it is a tangled mess of supports and cross-braces needed to keep the open space below from collapsing on itself- kind of a metaphor for the whole tour. The second was the large office where all the “secret” paperwork was done. Lining the walls of the office were cabinets- one for each of the chief administrators who, like the Doges, were appointed for life. Each cabinet had the coat of arms of the administrator, and there were 5 cabinets that were left blank- waiting to be used by administrators who never came, since Venice was taken over by Napoleon in 1797 and the Republic was no more. Nobody ever sees the end coming, and you never know what stupid little things will be left unfinished when a state, a life or an organization comes suddenly to an end. For all we know, there was a whole plan in place to add a new room of cabinets once the five remaining ones were all filled up.
After the “Secret Itinerary” we walked through all the non-secret parts of the Doge’s palace, which were, as intended, overwhelming and impressive- filled with artwork, the central theme of which is “God Loves Venice- so Don’t F*ck with Us”. I was glad that I saw the all the “secret” stuff first, since it gave an interesting sense of perspective to the more grandiouse parts of the palace – like going backstage at the Ahmanson and seeing all the racks of costumes, stacks of lumber and the warren of shops and dressing rooms that fuel the illusion on the stage.
We left the Doge’s Palace and Lauren, who was able to navigate the tangled alleys of Venice with a level of success that still mystifies me, found one of the hidden gems of the city- the external staircase of the Palazzo Contarini del Bolovo- a graceful structure featured in all the guidebooks with a warning about how difficult it is to locate. As with many of the city’s structures, I could only stand in amazement and stare at it- stunned that it actually existed in brick and mortar and wasn’t just a glossy image on a postcard.
The best way to view the pictures (in my opinion) is to click on the first one which opens a larger view, then click Next in that new window. This way you can also read the captions.
