The Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries Tour

The Secret Itineraries tour is MUVE’s own guided tour of the rooms off the Doge’s Palace’s regular route: the Pozzi cells, the offices of the Republic’s chancery, the Torture Chamber and the Piombi, where Casanova was held. It costs 40 EUR (20 EUR reduced), takes at most 25 people for about 1 hour 15 minutes, and runs in English at 10:00, 11:30 and 13:00; the ticket also covers the regular route on your own (MUVE, checked November 2026). MUVE sells it itself, by reservation, on its Secret Itineraries page. The third-party tours that add the Secret Itineraries, on GetYourGuide and Viator, showed no bookable date before 17 March 2027 when we read them in November 2026, so for a visit before mid-March 2027 MUVE’s tour is the way in.

What the tour visits

MUVE gives the route in this order:

• the Pozzi, the “wells”, damp prison cells;
• the offices of the Ducal Notary and the Great Chancellor, and the Chamber of the Secret Chancellery, where the Republic’s records were kept;
• the Torture Chamber;
• the Piombi, the cells under the lead roof, with the two cells Casanova occupied, both reconstructed;
• the attic, then the Chamber of the Inquisitors, with a ceiling by Tintoretto;
• the Chamber of the Three Head Magistrates, where the visit ends.

None of these rooms is on the regular route. The regular visit has prisons of its own, the New Prisons across the Bridge of Sighs, which every palace ticket crosses.

Times, group size and who can go

MUVE, checked November 2026.

The tour takes at most 25 people with a specialised guide. Children under 6 are not allowed. The rooms are small, on different levels and joined by steep, narrow stairs, so MUVE says the tour is not accessible to people with mobility problems, not recommended for people with claustrophobia, vertigo or heart and breathing conditions, and not suitable for pregnant women. Arrive on time: more than 15 minutes late and you are excluded from the tour.

MUVE also runs the same itinerary as an exclusive visit every day at 9:00 and 9:30, but only for a group that buys the whole entry slot (at least 10 people), booked at least 3 days ahead and non-refundable (checked November 2026).

The Doge’s Hidden Treasures

MUVE’s second guided tour goes to the Doge’s private rooms rather than the prisons and offices. It starts at the Porta della Carta, climbs to the Terrazza Foscara and the Loggia Foscara, passes the Sala dei Forzieri, the old treasure chamber, and the Doge’s Terrace, then through the Doge’s Apartment to the Doge’s own small church and its antechamber. It costs 40 EUR (20 EUR reduced), takes at most 10 people for about 1 hour 15 minutes, in English at 11:00 and 16:00, Italian at 13:00 and French at 14:30, with the same limits on children, mobility and late arrival (MUVE, checked November 2026).

Pick the Secret Itineraries for the prisons, the archives and Casanova; pick the Hidden Treasures for the Doge’s private rooms and a group of ten.

The tours on booking sites

Walks of Italy sells a 3-hour tour of St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace with “special access to the Doge’s Palace Secret itineraries” on both GetYourGuide and Viator, for groups of up to 20. On GetYourGuide every date we tried from 27 November 2026 to 11 March 2027 was closed, and its first bookable date was 17 March 2027; on Viator its schedule for the Secret Itineraries option starts on the same day (both read November 2026). The tour adds the Basilica to the palace; its GetYourGuide listing needs the full name of each guest to match a valid ID and does not take children under 6.

Until then, MUVE’s tour is the one to book for these rooms. For the regular route with a guide, the Doge’s Palace, New Prisons & St. Mark’s Basilica Guided Tour (Crown Tours) covers the council chambers, the Bridge of Sighs and the New Prisons, then St Mark’s Basilica, from $110 (checked November 2026).

Where the palace is

The palace’s public entrance is the Porta del Frumento on the Piazzetta San Marco, 237 m on foot from the San Zaccaria Danieli water-bus stop. Doge’s Palace ticket prices sets the Secret Itineraries ticket against MUVE’s other tickets.