Day 1 in Venice

So sleepy but decided after lunch I needed to get started on my touring so of to Doge's Palace it was! Palazzo Ducale was the residence and government center of the doges ("dukes," elected for life) who ruled Venice for more than 1,000 years.  it is located between the Basilica di San Marco and St. Mark's Basin. Orginally as a symbol of prosperity and power, it was destroyed by a succession of fires and was built and rebuilt in 1340 and 1424 in its present state.  It slowly grew to be one of Italy's most important civic structures. Porta della Carta (Paper Gate) from the 15th century opens  into an inner courtyard with a double row of Renaissance arches. Ahead of you is Jacopo Sansovino's gigantic Scala dei Giganti (Stairway of the Giants), where the doges' lavish inaugurations took place and never was used by mere mortals.  The stairs have statues of Neptune and Mars atop overlooking things and representing Venice's power over the land and the sea.  The walls and ceilings of the main rooms were beautifully decorated by the Venetian masters, including Veronese, Titian, and Tintoretto, to illustrate the history of the puissant Venetian Republic.  The first room you come to once upstairs is the spacious Sala delle Quattro Porte (Hall of the Four Doors), whose ceiling is by Tintoretto. The Sala del Anti-Collegio (adjacent to the College Chamber, whose ceiling is also decorated by Tintoretto), the next main room, is decorated with paintings by Tintoretto, and Veronese's Rape of Europe. A right turn from this room leads into one of the spectacular interior rooms, the beautifully adorned Sala del Senato (Senate Chamber), with Tintoretto's ceiling painting, The Triumph of Venice. Next, is the Veronese-decorated Stanza del Consiglio dei Dieci (Room of the Council of Ten, the republic's hated security police.  The main sight on the next level down is the Sala del Maggior Consiglio (Great Council Hall). This enormous space is made special by Tintoretto's huge Paradiso at the far end of the hall above the doge's seat. It measures 23 by 75 ft, and it is said to be the world's largest oil painting.  When you leave the Great Council Hall through a tiny doorway to find the enclosed Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), which connects the Ducal Palace with the grim Palazzo delle Prigioni (Prisons). The bridge took its current name only in the 19th century, when visiting northern European poets romantically envisioned the prisoners' final breath of resignation upon viewing the outside world one last time before being locked in their tiny cells.  (More pictures of this palace will come at a lat time...took them with the wrong camera!). 

This event happened on June 13 even though I'm late getting it up!