Doge's Palace

A seat of government has stood here since the 9th century, but the palace you see is mostly Gothic, with Renaissance additions, in three wings. The one facing St Mark's Basin is the oldest, rebuilt from 1340. The wing on the Piazzetta took its present form from 1424. The wing along the canal, with the doge's apartments and many government offices, was built between 1483 and 1565 after a fire. Two more fires, in 1574 and 1577, ruined much of the decoration, which is why so many ceilings and canvases date from the years just after.

The doge was the Republic's highest official and the only one who held office for life. Chosen by the Great Council through a famously complicated vote, he still had no power to make laws or decisions on his own. The last doge, Ludovico Manin, stepped down in 1797, when Napoleon's soldiers entered Venice and the Republic came to an end.

In 1614 an enclosed bridge was built to link the palace with the New Prisons across the canal. Its name, the Bridge of Sighs, came much later, from the Romantic idea of prisoners taking a last look at the lagoon through its small windows. In 1923 the Italian state, which owns the palace, handed it to the city to run as a public museum.

The route does not go floor by floor. It starts on the ground floor in the Museo dell'Opera, where the original 14th- and 15th-century capitals from the facades now stand, crosses the courtyard below the Giants' Staircase and climbs to the loggia and the doge's apartments. From there it moves through the chambers of the councils and courts on the upper floors and ends with the Armoury, the picture gallery and the prisons.

The largest room is the Chamber of the Great Council, 53 metres long and 25 metres wide and one of the biggest rooms in Europe. The whole wall behind the doge's throne is taken up by Paradise, painted by Tintoretto and his workshop between 1588 and 1592 and one of the longest canvases in the world. Portraits of the first 76 doges run in a frieze below the ceiling. Along the way you also pass stone 'lion's mouths', slots where Venetians could post anonymous reports of crime or corruption.

The prisons are reached through one of the two corridors inside the Bridge of Sighs, so you cross it from the inside and look out through the same small windows.

The standard ticket is the St Mark's Square Museums ticket, which also covers the Museo Correr, the National Archaeological Museum and the Monumental Rooms of the Marciana Library. An audio guide app is included.

From 1 April to 31 October the palace opens from 9:00 to 19:00, with last entry at 18:00. From 1 November to 31 March it closes at 18:00, with last entry at 17:00. Rooms start closing half an hour early, and the prisons come last on the route, so do not arrive near last entry.

Tickets bought online at least 30 days ahead cost less than the standard price, so it pays to plan early.

The palace and St Mark's Basilica stand side by side and pair well in one day, but the basilica keeps shorter hours and only opens to visitors in the afternoon on Sundays and public holidays. On those days, see the palace in the morning and the basilica after lunch.