Venice Italy Vacation Part 2 of 3

Our trip to Venice - Part 2

 

When going to Venice, be sure to book your tours prior to getting there.  And do book a tour guide!  The lines getting into the Doge Palace, Bridge of Sighs and St. Mark Basilica started EARLY in the morning and wrapped around like Disney ride lines.  No kidding.  Whereas we had a tour guide and went in immediately, no waiting and well worth the price (well, especially with my parents who know how to do a vacation right and Thank you again Mom and Dad!)

 

Our tour guide spoke English well enough, but I’ll get to her later.  The Palazzo Ducale (Palace of Doge) - it’s not an actual palace.  The person who lived it is was elected as the “representative of Justice.”  The person elected wasn’t just elected for a term, but rather for his entire life (and if not well liked, well, the life wouldn’t last that long either).  The Doge stayed in the palace, conducted meetings with foreign ambassadors there, passed judgment on criminals there - basically he worked and lived there and the church was attached with a private way to walk to it rather than going outside.  Work, Religion, Life - there in one place.

 

It was a place of political power. There were huge rooms where the Doge meet with his council.  There were rooms for hearings and yes even prisons in the palace.  You’ll see the lion a lot by the palace, which represents “the power of state is supreme over that of a single person.”  

 

There was a courtyard when we first entered and my gosh, the sculptures alone would take days to look at, but our tour wouldn’t allow for such leisure.  From the courtyard, we were told to look at the “Giant Staircase.”  It wasn’t because the steps went up forever but because of the huge statues of Neptune and Mars - power of land and sea.

 

From the ground floor inside, we climbed up the Scala D’Oro, the golden staircase.  From floor to ceiling, there was no empty space - it was filled with paintings and gold, yes real gold.  It was explained that when Venice had political visitors, they were always brought in this way, as a method to impress the wealth of the Doge.

 

We saw rooms where they held court to determine the guilt of the criminal.  We saw the freaky head for papers called Bocca di Leone.  If someone wanted to snitch on a person who committed a crime, but wanted to stay anonymous, they would write down what they witnessed and slip it in the mouth of the secret letterbox.  The letters were read and investigations carried out.

 

The council’s hall was impressive, almost to the point of feeling dizzy.  It was huge and was a place for public voting.  It was called the Sala del Maggior Consiglio.  Massive paintings were on the walls. You just couldn’t absorb it all.  Towards the top of the walls were paintings of each Doge... you knew this because of the odd little caps that they were expected to wear.  The ceilings were just as divine! 

 

Our tour took us from the divine to the bleak.  We went from massive rooms to a narrow passage and steep staircases and found ourselves looking out of the small window on the Bridge of Sighs.  And we sighed.... we felt ourselves leaving the beauty of Venice and into the prisons in the basement.

 

It is called the Bridge of Sighs, because when a criminal was convicted, the window on that bridge was the last view of Venice they would see... and they would sigh... just as we did.  We saw rooms where the criminals were tortured and walked into the prison cell that seemed a decent size until you were told it was crammed full of people.  Gregory asked, “What is this small hole in the wall?” as he pointed towards it.  “That’s where they would be given bread and water” came the reply.

 

We heard about how one prisoner managed to escape, the famous Cananova!  It is said that he made friends with the jailers, power house people in the prisons.  He was kept in “The Leads” which was a prison in the Doge Palace for prisoners of “higher status.”  The guards looked the other way, giving him more freedom than most prisoners.  He was able to make a hole in the ceiling, which then lead to his escape to the courtyard at the Doge’s Palace.  

 

Our tour ended at the St. Mark’s Cathedral.  It was built to hold the relics of St Mark. His body was in Egypt, when two people stole his body to bring it back to Venice. There’s a mosaic in the church showing St Mark’s body being hidden in a basket covered by pork to prevent Muslims from searching the basket.

 

If we thought the Doge was impressive... it was child’s play in comparison to the cathedral.  Between mosaic pieces and gold, every available surface is covered with designs, pictures and patterns.  Our tour guide said that if someone wanted to bring in goods to sell, they had to give mosaic pieces or gold to contribute to the cathedral. 

 

At the end of the tour, the guide asked if anyone had any questions.  Gregory raised his hand and asked, “Who did all the paintings inside of the buildings we just toured?”  The tour guide replied, “That’s a good question and one that nobody has the answer to.  There were generations and generations of painters and they didn’t sign their work.”  Gregory thought this was sad.  I agree.

 

It was a long tour day and so worth it.  Though my brother was disgusted with our tour guide. I thought she shared some interesting information.  However, her feminist view made my brother want to scream at her.  You see, there were many paintings of women in the Doge Palace.  Our tour guide said, “See how the Doge is kneeling in every painting?  He is kneeling towards the painting of the woman.  The woman is representative of Venice.  The city of Venice is thought of as the woman.  The Doge knows he must serve the city.”  It’s an interesting thought and take on the paintings, but my brother was floored.  He said, “I don’t care if I’m religious or if I’m not.  What I am doesn’t make a difference.  What DOES matter is that religion was a HUGE part of their lives in history.  The Doge was kneeling for the church.” 

 

At this point, leaving the tour, was when we experienced the crush of tourists during carnival.  It was intense, but once past the square, walking the narrow streets of Venice, we were good and made it back for another night at our hotel.