Description
After entering near the Porta della Carta with its lavish sculptures and marble decorations, you will be lead up to the Loggiato, which is where the ruler of the Most Serene Republic would appear during public events.
From this vantage point you’ll see the entire area of Saint Mark’s with its buildings from different periods and in different styles that still mark the perimeter.
From there, your itinerary continues to the Loggia Foscara, a Renaissance addition to the original Gothic arrangement of the Doge’s Palace. Inside are the coffers where the State Treasures are conserved. Your path continues to the hanging Terrace, and going through part of the Doge’s Apartment – where he enjoyed his private life with his family, the scudieri and servants’ quarters. You’ll continue up a steep staircase that is embellished with a painting by Titian of Saint Christopher, up to the Chiesetta and the Antichiesetta (the private chapels), frescoed in the mid eighteenth century by Jacopo Guarana and Gerolamo and Agostino Mengozzi Colonna.
In this brightly lit room, enlarged by the trompel’oil of the wall frescoes, is a sculpture of Virgin with Child and Angels by Jacopo Sansovino. The models that Sebastiano Ricci used for the second arch of the Basilica with The Translation of the Body of Saint Mark are conserved in the Antichiesetta.
