The back rooms, the torture chamber and the cell Casanova escaped from
The Secret Itineraries tour — is it worth it?
A separate guided tour through the parts of the palace the standard route does not reach. It is not a guided version of the normal visit; it is a different building. Here is what it covers and who should book it.
Book your Doge's Palace entry ↗What it is
The Itinerari Segreti is a guided tour, roughly seventy-five minutes, through the administrative and judicial back rooms of the palace — the offices, the chancellery, the torture chamber, and the Piombi cells under the lead roof. These spaces sit behind and above the state rooms, connected by narrow wooden staircases and low doors, and they are not accessible on a standard ticket.
Why they call it secret
Because the rooms were hidden by design. The Republic's administration worked out of sight of the ceremonial route, and the passages connecting the offices to the council chambers were deliberately concealed within the thickness of the building. Walking them is the closest you get to understanding how the machine actually operated behind the propaganda.
Casanova's cell
The headline attraction. Giacomo Casanova was imprisoned in the Piombi in 1755 for offences that seem to have amounted to being a general nuisance to the authorities, and escaped through the roof in 1756 — the only person known to have done so. The tour takes you into the attic and shows you the route. His own account of it is highly coloured but the geography checks out.
The torture chamber
A small room where suspects were questioned by the corda, suspension by the wrists behind the back. It is presented plainly, without theatrics, and it is the more effective for that.
Does it include the normal route?
Yes. The Secret Itineraries ticket includes standard admission to the palace, so you can do the tour and then walk the ordinary route afterwards at your own pace. That makes the price difference smaller than it first looks — you are not paying twice.
Languages and booking
Tours run in Italian, English and French, with a limited number of departures per day in each. Group sizes are capped, which is why it sells out — often days or weeks ahead in high season. It must be booked in advance and cannot reliably be picked up on the day.
Who should book it
Anyone on a second visit to the palace; anyone with a real interest in how the Republic governed rather than how it decorated; and anyone travelling with older children who will be more gripped by cells and escape routes than by allegorical ceilings. The narrow stairs and low headroom make it unsuitable for visitors with mobility difficulties, and it is not recommended for anyone strongly claustrophobic.
Who should not
First-time visitors with only a couple of hours in Venice. The standard route already takes two to three hours and contains the Great Council chamber, the Paradise and the Bridge of Sighs. Do that properly first; save the back rooms for a return trip.