Lords of the Night Prison Palace: tour to the cells and torture tools

Discover the secret itinerary in the mysterious Prisons of Piazza San Marco, connected to the Doge’s Palace by the Bridge of Sighs.

The Palace is "populated" by life-size figures of the Lords of the Night, prisoners, Judges, Lawyers and all the characters who worked in the Prisons, painstakingly drawn from ancient manuscripts.

The guide will bring you through exclusive places: you will have the opportunity to enter the torture room and see authentic torment items used by the torturers in the past to make the criminals confess. There, you will discover the stories about the Lords of the Nights: the terrible Venetian police who oversaw the crimes and brought criminals and betrayers in front of the courtroom.

You will go down to the cold cells to see the lifestyle of the prisoners: what they ate, drank and where they slept. Here you can also admire the original graffiti left by the prisoners and listen about the thrilling Casanova’s escape: he managed to evade from the maximum-security jail known as “Piombi”!

You will discover the alternative that prisoners had between staying in a cell or serving their sentence on board a Venetian galley. Each year of boarding as a Galeotti was worth the same as spending 2 years in a cell.

Listen to the histories and legends that still reside inside these cells and halls. Along the itinerary, you’ll enjoy the explanation of the powerful “Council of The Ten”, composed by the highest Venice Politicians that ran the justice in all Venetian domains.

Nowadays the Palace, which overlooks the stunning Riva Degli Schiavoni, is home to an important Venetian cultural Institution.