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Italy > Venezia
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| The first floor of the library opens up to the Vestibolo, the ceiling of which catches the eye for its Tiziano painting of La Sapienza. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| Located on San Marco’s square, Sansovino’s Library was built in 1554 and is considered one of the finest buildings of the Roman Renaissance. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| Sansovino designed the Biblioteca Marciana (Library of St. Mark), opposite the Doge’s Palace. Building began in 1537 but was beset by all manner of problems, resulting in Sansovino being stripped of his salary and imprisoned. It was eventually finished by his pupil Vincenzo Scamozzi. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The reading room soars three stories high and is ringed with stacks of books behind glass on the upper balconies. The main reading area is watched over by an enormous bust of Petrarch, who first proposed the library in 1362. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The enormous Sala del Maggior Consiglio is the main sight in the entire palace. See Tintoretto’s huge Paradiso at the far end of the hall above the Doge’s seat, said to be the world’s largest oil painting. Tintoretto also painted the portraits of the 76 doges encircling the top of this chamber. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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Italy > Venezia
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| The Council Hall is a room by Palladio hung with canvases by Tintoretto. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The Shield Room holds two enormous globes and walls covered with maps of the known world at the time. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The ceiling of the Sala del Senato features ‘The Triumph of Venice’ by Tintoretto. In this room laws were passed by the Senate, a select group of 200 chosen from the Great Council. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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Italy > Venezia
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| The Hall of the Great Council, built in 1340, is an impressive room featuring a frieze of painting of the first 76 doges. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The Hall of the Great Council, built in 1340, is an impressive room featuring a frieze of painting of the first 76 doges. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| Sansovino’s Golden Staircase, built in 1549, was reserved for the use of Magistrates and important persons and leads to the Doge’s Apartments and the Square Entrance Hall. It is decorated with works from many famous artists of the time. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The New Prisons were built on the eastern side of the Rio di Palazzo in the 16th century to hold the overflow from the Old Prisons. Before the construction of the Prigioni Nuove, prisoners were kept either in the Piombi (the Leads) or in the Pozzi (the Wells). |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| In the torture chamber suspects were suspended by their wrists and questioned by the three “judges of the night”. A single, ominous rope hangs from the rafters. Under the eaves is the underside of a huge floating celing belonging to one of the staterooms below. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| The Old Prisons. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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| Casanova was imprisoned at Piombi following his arrest in 1755, when he was accused of being a Freemason, spreading antireligious propaganda and dabbling in magic. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment, but fifteen months later Casanova made a daring escape and remains the only known prisoner to have done so. Also called “Leads” because of the lead (piombo) covering on the roof immediately above the prison, these six or seven cells were formed of wooden partitions nailed with sheets of iron and were located beneath the Doge’s Palace. Although unpleasant, conditions in Piombi were better than those in the pozzi (the wells) on the ground floor of the Doge’s Palace. |
| Photo: Giuseppe Pennisi |
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Italy > Venezia
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