This guided tour will take you inside the most important and iconic buildings in Venice: The Doge’s Palace and Saint Mark’s Basilica (with your personal tour guide you will be able to skip the line to enter the Doge’s Palace and Saint Mark’s Basilica)* where you’ll have the opportunity to learn about some of the history, art, and culture of the old Republic of Venice. The Doge’s Palace is considered one of the most impressive, both historically and in grandeur, secular buildings in Italy.

You will see the magnificent halls of the old Venetian government, so richly decorated by the most notable artists of the sixteenth century; the Doge’s private quarters where the most influential and powerful men of their times lived; you’ll cross the harrowing Bridge of Sighs, where prisoners of the state would glimpse their last patch of sky before meeting their fate; and you’ll be chilled by the prison cells where you can still see the messages carved into the walls.
Inside the Basilica, the church that was once the Doge’s private chapel and is now the Venetian cathedral, there are rare examples of Byzantine art, golden mosaic and the ‘Pala d’Oro’ – the Golden Altarpiece – rich in enamels, precious stones and jewels. Accessible through the Basilica is the Gallery with a variety with the original bronze horses brought from Constantinople during the second crusade.