Giant’s Staircase, courtyard of the Doge’s Palace.

The Doge’s Palace of Venice is a shrine with lavishing gilt ceilings, great masterpieces by Veronese and Tiepolo, and hundreds of years of history visible on its many paintings but now there is a new reason to visit it.

After long restoration work, new rooms have been made available to the visit. There is the splendid private church of the Doge, redesigned in the 18th century and a real treasure of Rococo art with stucco work in pastel colors and frescoes with figures floating in a spring sky. It is not difficult to understand why in 19th- century the Rococo was remembered as the “time of sweetness of life”

The private church of the Doge, courtesy of the Venice Museum Foundation (MUVE)

There is also the possibility to walk on the loggia where you can enjoy not only the breathtaking view on St. Mark’s square and on the lagoon, but also take a look at the sculptures of the Palace’s facade from such a close distance that you see them in a completely new way.

Sculpture group by Giovanni Bon above the entrance to the Doge’s Palace: the Doge Foscari kneeling in front of St. Mark’s lion.

Unexpected, intriguing perspectives show the architectural volumes of the Palace and the Basilica from a different point of view.

Basilica di San Marco, East fassade

If you book this tour with me, I’ll tell you the history and the stories behind the walls, showing you not only the great masters but all those elements of daily life who made the obligatory residency of the Doge in its palace a little more comfortable.

Cristina, www.slow-venice.com