Travel bucket list idea:
Venice, Veneto, Italy
Bucket List Experience
With its rose pink-and-white brickwork shimmering on the edge of the lagoon, the Doge’s Palace seems more mirage than monument. While other states fortified their power with forbidding castles, the Venetians showed off their security with this airy, ethereal palace.
The hub of the far-reaching political power of La Serenissima since the 9th century, today it is a testament to the best of Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance architecture and painting.
Highlights include the arcaded courtyard, the frescoes by Veronese, Tiepolo and Tintoretto in the grand chambers and the collection of armour and weapons in the old Armoury. Tintoretto’s Paradiso is the largest oil painting in the world.
The famous ‘Bridge of Sighs’ joins the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace to a prison. Convicts will supposedly sigh at their final view of Venice before imprisonment. Legend also has it that lovers who kiss under the Bridge of Sighs on a Gondola will be granted eternal love.
Also check out the 15th-century statue of a worse-for-wear Noah propped up by a vine. It can be found on the corner of the outer facade of the palace, before the Bridge of Sighs.
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Destination guides including or relevant to this experience
Veneto, Italy
Crammed with picturesque canals, Renaissance palazzos and artistic masterpieces, this unique and alluring city is heaven-on-earth for art lovers and romantics.
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The great civilisations of the past have left a legacy of constructions that still stand out and inspire. Built without the wonders of 20th-century technology, many are also monumental feats of engineering; others offer such grace and beauty, that they’ll literally take your breath away.
