Venice: Secrets, Lies and Vaporetti

It was still pouring with raining and thundering when I finally dragged myself out of bed. With trepidation I looked out the window and realised my poor sandals were going to die! I had set the alarm for 7:30am, but discovered that this wasn’t necessary as every bell within the city starts ringing at this time every morning. We couldn’t work out why, except perhaps this is a communal signal to get up and get ready for work.

I didn’t bother packing the sun cream but I did get my emergency rain coat out. I really didn’t care how daft I looked at least part of me would stay dry. In fact I seriously considered walking down to San Mark’s Square in bare feet, after all the paths had looked quite clean yesterday.

Casanova actually escaped from the cell above, not across the roof, but down through the main building.

Breakfast was the usual continental affair. A sweet bread roll with butter and jam plus a marmalade croissant smothered in Nuttella spread. All washed down with lashings of hot black coffee. Regardless of the weather, we all set off to the Doge’s Palace. We had booked ourselves onto the secret itinerary tour.

We headed off into the early morning rain, sharing the few umbrellas we had between us. Luckily it began to clear up and I didn’t have to resort to buying any plastic shoes. In fact it had practically stopped by the time we got to the Place.

The entrance was from the quayside and the queue seemed to be huge despite the fact we had all prepaid. Every so often a security guard came over to say something to us in Italian. Eventually we realised that he was trying to get us to duck under the barrier and go straight to the desk. This wasn’t as straight forward as we had hoped, but after the third attempt we got our tickets and orange stickers and were directed to squeeze through another gap in the barrier before finally making it inside.

There is a huge courtyard at the centre of the Palace, with benches all around the walls. We were early so we all wandered around taking in our new surroundings. On the far side was the Giants’ Staircase, a massive marble flight of steps flanked by huge statues of Mars and Neptune. There seemed to be quite a bit of scaffolding around, particularly on the palace’s dome.

Finally we were greeted by our tour guide who spent a few moments pointing out the route we were about to take through the Palace’s secret rooms. This tour is well named. Not only does it take us through rooms that most people will never see and that the Venetian public generally knew very little about but the tour tends not to be widely publicised.

We began by climbing up some steps to the first floor loggia overlooking main courtyard. Here we found a grotesque mask on the wall, with a wide open mouth. This was where ordinary Venetians could secretly denounce those who in some way had betrayed the city. They would write their message, sign it, have it witnessed and then post it through the mouth. Of course they had to be truthful. If it was later found they were lying, the accuser would suffer the fate that their victim had faced.

Next we were taken up the golden staircase (Scala d’Oro) to the second floor of the Palace and the main rooms of state. These were the rooms where royalty and ambassadors would be entertained. But this is all for show. The real work took place in the rooms hidden above. We finally gained access to these from the Atrio Quadrato, through a small wooden door. It led us up to some very small and plain offices. These once belonged to the Grand Chancellor and his Secretary. However the real work went on upstairs in a wonderful panelled room that looked surprisingly like the bridge of a sailing ship, the Sala della Cancelleria Segreta. In fact all these rooms resemble those of a ship, which isn’t surprising as they were built by the craftsmen from the naval dockyard.

Venice was an incredibly paranoid city. The Sala della Cancelleria Segreta was the archive where state documents were copied. This was done by a group of people who could neither read nor write. They simply copied the documents they were given, without understand what they meant. A perfect system for ensuring that state secrets remain secret!

Another method used to protect Venetian interests was torture. A further flight of stairs took us up to the chilling Sala del Tortura. We were invited to sit on the tiny benches either side of the central feature – a long rope hanging from the roof. It’s incredibly theatrical. The victim had their wrists tied behind their back and were then suspended from the central rope. Quite bad enough but the Inquisitors knew how to pile on the pressure. They only used the room at night when there was a full moon. Then the moonlight would shine through the only window, illuminating the victim, whilst the State Inquisitors sat in the shadows asking their questions. In fact they didn’t even need to resort to torture. Watching from the sides and even helping to string up the victim were others awaiting their turn.

Our next stop was the Piombi prison. These are the cells high up in the roof of the palace, beneath the lead sheeting that gives it its name. The most famous occupant of these cells was Casanova. We were shown into his original prison cell access through a tiny half sized doorway. Once inside I could only just about stand upright. Poor Casanova was 6 foot 5 inches, so he certainly wouldn’t have been able to. This was however a high status prison. He was able to furnish the room as he wanted and even managed to charm his guard enough to let him out for exercise every day. It was on one of these trips that he found an iron bar and a marble block that he later used to aid his escape.

Casanova was originally imprisoned for possessing forbidden books. Apparently he used the Vatican’s list of banned works as a catalogue for collecting them! He was originally thrown in gaol for a few months, but somehow was never released. Apparently it didn’t pay to cross one of the State Inquisitors. Eventually he tried to escape by using the metal bar to dig through the wooden floor of his cell. Unfortunately this was foiled when his guard moved him to a new one. When the guard realised what he had done he threatened to have Casanova hung. But Casanova threatened to implement him in the crime, so the guard repaired the damage and kept the secret.

Casanova actually escaped from the cell above, not across the roof, but down through the main building. He timed it to coincide with a major state occasion and more or less walked out the main door straight past the guards. He was very lucky. Had he succeeded with his first attempt he would have found himself dropping straight into the room of the State Inquisitors’.

As we worked our way around the building we ended up in a wide open loft, made of huge larch beams. The wood had been hardened in the usual Venetian way. The timber was submerged in the lagoon for six months and then left to dry out for another six months. This strengthens the wood and protects it from insect attack. Beneath the roof hangs the ceiling of the room below. From up here it looked like a maze of wood and iron. It was hard to believe that it currently supports paintings by some of the greatest Venetian painters.

Eventually we made our way back into the main palace, via what looked like a large wardrobe! A great deal of effort went into keeping the grand state rooms and plain administrative areas separate, including hiding the doors that link them. It was a real shock to find ourselves back in the main rooms of the palace because there had only been 25 people on our tour. Now there were thousands. Everywhere I went there seemed to be a guide with a tour. Some had strange plastic tubes in their ears that hissed as the guide’s voice was broadcast to them.

The state rooms are really superb, but quite rightly cameras are banned and on the whole people obey. We swept through the rooms in a tide of bodies, finally being funnelled into and across the bridge of sighs. This takes you into a totally different world; the claustrophobic cells of the new prison. This was where the more unfortunate prisoners ended up. We worked our way around these rooms, finally returning to the Bridge of Sighs and made our way back out into the Palace’s courtyard.

It was now mid afternoon and we were all feeling hungry and thirsty. We walked through the maze of streets surrounding St Mark’s Square, looking for somewhere nice to stop - but we failed. In the end we went back to our maps and found our way to Campo Santa Maria Formosa. Here we sat in a café opposite the church. Unfortunately we don’t know what this café was called, but it will live long in our memories. The food was quite good and the prices seemed reasonable. However they did like to add on additional charges none of which were explained on the extremely brief bill that they brought us. We eventually managed to work out who had what and gather the correct money. This we handed to the waiter and went off to look at the church. A minute later the waiter dashed back out claiming we had underpaid. Now I know that we left the correct money, I counted it myself, but now we were €10 down! Well it wasn’t much so I paid it, but the waiters must make themselves a tidy little packet with this trick. Our advice is that you always make sure at least two people check the money, just in case you need to stand your ground.

Wandering back through the streets, we stopped at various little shops to buy souvenirs. Once we arrived back at Saint Mark’s Square we went to the nearest vaporetto stop and bought a 24 hour tourist ticket. We then used this to catch a boat to the glass making island of Murano.

The vaporetto took us anti-clockwise around the main city, giving us a lovely view of the parks and the Arsenale. I could have spent all day on these boats, admiring the view. We passed right by the fascinating cemetery island of San Michelle before arriving at our destination.

From the quay we were immediately herded into the nearby glass factory, just in time to see someone modelling a flower shaped candlestick. After that we headed into the shop where an old man tired to sell me an overpriced glass picture frame. I saw a lot more of these further down the canal and they were much cheaper than the one he had given me a special price on.

The weather began to turn in Murano. After a quick walk along the nearby canal we had to take cover underneath a shop awning to escape a quick shower. But it didn’t last long and we dashed back to the quay to catch another vaperetto back to Venice, hopping off at Fondamente Nuove on the northern shore. We planned to walk down to the Grand Canal and catch a vaperetto back to the Rialto Bridge, but before we know it we actually arrived on foot.

It was a really wonderful walk through some pretty but quiet streets. We were particularly taken with a café in Campo Santa Maria del Miracoli. Here we enjoyed a leisurely coffee sitting beside a canal, opposite the beautiful Church of the same name. Apparently this is where many Venetians like to get married and we could certainly see why. You couldn’t help but take lovely wedding photographs just outside. The only thing that slightly spoilt my view was the gentleman sitting with his back to our group. I simply couldn’t help noticing a certain amount of “builder’s bum” on display. Still it is was a very pleasant break and we did manage to avoid yet another quick shower.

Later that evening, all dressed up for a night on the town, we headed back to the Rialto by vaparetto. We had all double checked our 24 hour passes but amazingly S, the most organised and practical member of our group had forgotten hers! So the rest of us took a seat and wait whilst she dashed back to get it. To be honest we might have got away with it, but it just seemed daft taking the risk. Still it was just a temporary set back and soon we were wandering along the canal side choosing that evenings restaurant.

As the weather was still a little bit damp we decided not to sit outside, opting instead for the rather sumptuous tables inside. This did have a slight disadvantage as we found ourselves sitting rather too close to the guitarist who was entertaining the guests. He was a bit zany but did seem to be enjoying himself, making sure to play something for all the nationalities represented by the dinners. S and J became quite competitive about guessing the tunes. One in particular foxed us all until he finally gave us a helping hand with the lyrics. To be fair by this stage we were getting a little noisy too!

We all had a very enjoyable meal here and noted that the price wasn’t much more than we paid earlier for lunch. I decided to go for seafood risotto with a certain amount of trepidation. I’m not overly keen on prawns when they haven’t been peeled. But I needn’t have worried, it was extremely nice and there were no unwanted legs or tentacles to grapple with. J seemed to think I was being quite adventurous with my food, but as I said I spend most of my time cooking pasta or risotto dishes at home. Truth be told I actually think my risotto tasted better than this one!

To wind up the evening we took another vaperetto from the Rialto back to St Mark’s Square – afterall we wanted to get the best value out of our tickets! We headed straight for Harry’s Bar, an institution in Venice that used to be frequented by the likes of Earnest Hemmingway (mind you it might be harder to find a bar he didn’t). We just about managed to squeeze into the tiny, packed bar and each of us ordered its trademark drink – a Bellini. This is a cocktail made from Prosecco sparkling wine and white peach juice. It was extremely good but I couldn’t help thinking that it just isn’t worth its €15 price tag! All this and we didn’t even see any famous film stars, I suppose they were all still far too busy at the film festival over on the Lido.

To make up for our extravagant nightcap we headed back round to the square to listen to the orchestra’s playing outside the beautiful cafes. This you can do for free as long as you don’t sit down at one of their tables. Whilst both cafes have their own musicians, they seem to have worked out a very good system where first one group plays and then the other. This ensures there are no unpleasant clashes.

At length we headed back towards our hotel, stopping briefly at a much cheaper bar for a proper nightcap. Here we watched the world go by, got even more competitive about guessing the song titles on the radio and discussed what we were going to do tomorrow. The general consensus was that we should go over to the Lido for some sea, sun and film festival fun. However I was harbouring a secret – I really wanted to stay in Venice, exploring more of the city. Eventually I confessed, hoping that no one would take it personally. In fact several people mentioned that they want to wander off and do different things!

Finally, well after midnight, we wandered back to our hotel. We could have caught yet another vaparetto, but to be honest it was just as quick to walk. We all went to bed hoping that the weather would improve tomorrow!