Italy, day 14

Happy Labor Day, Italy! Seems we have hit the high holiday season, first with Rome's April 21 birthday, then Liberation Day across Italy on April 25, and now another national holiday. Our innkeeper warned that most everything would be closed today, but the slow economy and tourism focus seem instead to have kept most businesses open.

After breakfast we headed to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Doge's Palace


off of St. Marks Square. The Doge was the head of state, and while the "public" part of the palace is quite ornate, the worker bees operated in less ornate quarters, and the courts and prison operated out of the same complex. We entered through the secret door, to floors half as tall as the outer rooms, and offices that make cubicles look quite attractive.

The "second doge" was a commoner who was treated regally, as he was actually in charge of all the administrative activity in and around the palace, Venice, and its far flung territories. He and his staffed worked in these common spaces by day, recording the history of each day's events. At night, the building took on a more torturous tone, as prisoners were questioned, sometimes painfully so.

Casanova was imprisoned and escaped from here, and poets such as Lord Byron wrote about the Bridge of Sighs, the enclosed passageway over the canal connecting the main prison with the palace.

The balance of the day was spent touring around the rest of St. Mark's


including the Basilica and Correr Museum, full of paintings and sculptures and a number of rooms recreated to provide a view into life in the 1500's.

We had a lovely dinner outside and then attended a concert -- Vivaldi in Venice, so awesome. A long stroll back to the B&B thru St. Mark's Sq at night makes us appreciate the utter charm of the city but not the souvenir vendors!
Ciao!


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Location:Venice, Italy