This week we are back in Venice. 

Today’s episode is all about the big guns – St Marks Square the incredible St Marks Basilica and the Doge’s Palace as well as some real surprises.

These buildings are absolutely incredible with amazing history, artwork and some fascinating stories.

We tell you all about the secret police and their secret mailboxes all over Venice as well as the secret doors and tunnels in the Palace.  Lots of secret squirrel business that went on, including how the most famous prisoner held in the palace (Casanova) escaped in the middle of the night.

Listen to the end to hear the dreadful thing that happened to the four bronze horses that sit atop of the Basilica in the main square.

Oh, and also something else that involves horses – that you won’t believe and will make you go “that’s disgusting” (here’s a hint – blonde hair and ammonia)

Enjoy episode 53 all about the fascinating and sometimes gross history of Venice.

SHOW NOTES AND PICTURES BELOW

St Mark’s Square in Venice is impressive to see. It is 180m by 70m - so very large. There is the huge bell tower, that is a replica as the original just imploded one day centuries ago. The plaza is lined on three sides by museums, cafes and restaurants and at the top is the incredible St Mark’s Basilica, with its domes and mosaics.

The restaurants in the square have band stands - so you can sit and enjoy the plaza, have a meal and drink and listen to live music. Be aware though, it is quite expensive. St Mark’s square is also home to Venice’s oldest cafe - Cafe Florian. It claims to be the oldest cafe in Europe which opened in 1720.

The Doge Palace was the residence of the leader or supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice. It was built in 1340 and has been added to over the centuries and rebuilt in sections after being damaged by fires. It became a museum in 1923.

We did a tour of the Palace that started at 8am and we had the whole building to ourselves. We wandered through the amazing chambers and rooms. They are all lined with stunning artwork and the ceilings are also masterpieces with carved wood, gold leaf and fabulous artworks.

There are rooms for senate meetings, leader’s meetings, the secret police room and of course the biggest and most impressive of all is the State Room which is where all the events were held. It is one of the biggest rooms in a Palace in Europe.

Then we walked across the Bridge of Sighs where the prisoners saw their last glimpse of the outside world before they went to their jail cell.

We learnt a lot about the Palace on our tour and we tell you some great stories in our podcast about Casanova, the secret police’s 70 mailboxes around Venice and about the different Doges that lived in the Palace.

This is the tour we did. It was really good and informative and we definitely recommend doing the earliest tour you can.

Tour of Doges Palace and St Mark’s Basilica

The four bronze horses on the outside of the Basilica are not the originals. - The first three pictures above are the originals which a located inside the basilica and they are spectacular. The detail on the horses is amazing. They are believed to be made in the 1st or 2nd Century AD. They were stolen by the Venetians from Constantinople in 1204 and placed on the top of the Basilica. Then Napolean took them in 1797 but they returned to Venice in 1815.

St Mark’s Basilica is the third church on the present spot and it was begun in 1063. It is such an incredible building to see inside. The walls and ceilings are covered in mosiac artwork made of millions of ground gold glass depicting saints, prophets and biblical scenes.

You can go up a narrow staircase to the upper level where you get the best views of the cathedral. The stunning original bronze horses are on this level as well. From here you can go outside to see the replicas of the horses on the balcony and this is also where you have some the best views of St Mark’s Square.

Venice is truly a magical city. It has so much history to soak up and we learnt so much about this unique place in our time there. We have more information about Venice and exploring the canals and doing a food tour in our previous episode. You can see the show notes and pictures here. Episode 52 - Venice or click the button below for all the Italy podcasts.