St Mark Square, The Basilica and the Doge’s Palace

St. Mark’s square was the political and religious center of the Republic of Venice.

It is a place extraordinarily rich in historical and artistic value. Since the beginning of the 9th century, there developed here the symbols of power and propaganda of the Doge’s Republic and its religious devotion.

We visit the basilica with its precious shimmering gold-leaf mosaics, the altar screen with its gems, pearls and enamels. The visit continues in the doge’s palace , the doge’s apartments, the chambers where the laws were made, the courtrooms where judicial life was led and eventually we will cross the most-celebrated icon of Venice, the Bridge of Sighs, to get to see the Prisons.

A description of the main monuments in the square is also included: the Procuratie palaces and the Napoleonic Wing, the Clock Tower, the Campanile and the Marciana National Library.