Lords of the Night Prison Palace: tour to the cells and torture tools

Attractions & guided tours

Venice, Italy

from 53 reviews

4.4/5

Free Cancellation

Language: English , Italian , French , Spanish

Mobile voucher accepted

Duration: 45 Minutes

Instant Confirmation

Guided Tour

e-Voucher

Group Tour

Do this because

Explore the old prisons of the Venetian Republic

Listen to myths, legends and stories about the prisoners

Discover legends and secrets of Casanova and its jailbreak

What to expect

Discover the secret itinerary in the mysterious Prisons of Piazza San Marco, connected to the Doge’s Palace by the Bridge of Sighs.The Palace is "populated" by life-size figures of the Lords of the Night, prisoners, Judges, Lawyers and all the characters who worked in the Prisons, painstakingly drawn from ancient manuscripts. The guide will bring you through exclusive places: you will have the opportunity to enter the torture room and see authentic torment items used by the torturers in the past to make the criminals confess. There, you will discover the stories about the Lords of the Nights: the terrible Venetian police who oversaw the crimes and brought criminals and betrayers in front of the courtroom.You will go down to the cold cells to see the lifestyle of the prisoners: what they ate, drank and where they slept. Here you can also admire the original graffiti left by the prisoners and listen about the thrilling Casanova’s escape: he managed to evade from the maximum-security jail known as “Piombi”!You will discover the alternative that prisoners had between staying in a cell or serving their sentence on board a Venetian galley. Each year of boarding as a Galeotti was worth the same as spending 2 years in a cell.Listen to the histories and legends that still reside inside these cells and halls. Along the itinerary, you’ll enjoy the explanation of the powerful “Council of The Ten”, composed by the highest Venice Politicians that ran the justice in all Venetian domains.

What's included

Skip-the-line entrance

Guided tour of the Prison's Palace

What's not included

Doge's Palace

What to remember

Know in advance:

The tour can be canceled in case of exceptional high tide. In this case, the tour can be rescheduled for the day after, otherwise the client will be refunded

The tour could be multilingual. The live commentary is provided in English and Italian

The audio commentary is provided in French and Spanish

Temporary Update (Valid from 18/04/2025 to 01/07/2025): On selected dates, visitors to Venice are required to pay an access fee unless exempt. For details on applicable dates, payment methods, and exemption criteria, please visit the official Comune di Venezia website

Booking Fee

Good news! No extra fees are applied to this booking.

Cancellation Fee

Receive a 100% refund if you cancel up to 1 day before the experience begins

Where

Circolo Artistico - Palazzo Delle Prigioni, Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy

Meeting point:

Prison Palace is close to San Marco Square, beside Doge's Palace. Please note, do not go to the entrance of Doge's Palace. To reach the Prisons Palace, cross the bridge on the right side of the entrance of the Doge's Palace. Please enter Prison's Place and head upstairs to the first floor.

View in 360Â°

Ticket & Audioguide (Opening Hours: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM) - $12.00

Total

Select Language

Only available at 00:00

Adult (15-99)

$12.00

Child (6-14)

$6.00

Infant (0-5)

$0.00

from $18.00

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Reviews

great

4.4/5

Based on 53 reviews from verified customers

All ratings (53)

Excellent (27)

51%

Great (20)

38%

Average (6)

11%

Poor (0)

Bad (0)

Meike

July 2025

From Germany

Traveled as With family - 30 years old

Great

Ein interessanter und auch gruseliger Besuch in den alten Zellen. Haben die deutsche Erklärung via Handy separat gekauft (5€ vor Ort) und konnten so ohne Begleitung im eigenen Tempo gehen. Fanden wir angenehmer als eine Führung. Waren ca 30-40 min unterwegs und fanden den Besuch lohnenswert.

Anonymous

July 2025

From Italy

Excellent

La guida veramente brava

Anonymous

August 2024

From United Kingdom

Excellent

We cannot recommend this tour enough! Our tour guide was amazing & gave so much history in a short amount of time. We were immersed in the history and found out so many interesting facts. The tour guide definitely made our experience a memorable one! We had time to ask questions & take pictures too!

Anonymous

July 2024

From Italy

Average

Biglietto acquistato come visita guidata,ma all'arrivo abbiamo scoperto che era un ingresso libero. Abbiamo deciso di pagare la differenza ( 5 euro in più a persona) ed entrare con la giuda. Consiglierei più chiarezza . Il personale in loco gentile e attento.

Anonymous

February 2024

From France

Excellent

Visite atypique mais très intéressante et captivante. Le guide, un étudiant en criminologie nous a ramené dans lvie des prisonniers vénitiens.

Anonymous

January 2024

From Italy

Excellent

Ottima esperienza che ti fa entrare nella Venezia di altri tempi: più misteriosa e, forse più, autentica

Anonymous

January 2024

From Spain

Average

Me esperaba mas, pero interesante

Anonymous

January 2024

From Spain

Great

Lo malo que no hay visita guiada en español.

Anonymous

December 2023

From Italy

Excellent

La visita è durata circa 45 minuti, siamo stati accompagnati da un ragazzo studente di criminologia davvero molto competente, complimenti !

Anonymous

December 2023

From Italy

Excellent

Anonymous

August 2023

From Italy

Great

Esperienza piacevole, con la nostra guida Kristian che si è’ dimostrato molto preparato e molto chiaro nell’esporre i contenuti. Forse ci aspettavamo di più dalla visita stessa, ovvero che fossero più interessanti le carceri di Venezia

Anonymous

June 2023

From United States

Excellent

Our tour guide (a student of criminology) was informative and very friendly! The group was small and it was an awesome look at some of the darker aspects of Venice! To actually spend time in some of the dungeons and see the actual tools used to torture was a surreal experience. We enjoyed it! Thx!

Anonymous

June 2023

From Italy

Excellent

bravo , competente e gentile la guida.

Anonymous

June 2023

From United Kingdom

Excellent

Me and my partner did this experience on 08/06/23 and we loved it. We had Tiziana as our guide, she was amazing. She knew so much and gave us the history, which was so informative. We would 100% recommend this tour, she was so easy to ask questions and loves sharing her knowledge. Thank you Tiziana

Anonymous

June 2023

From Germany

Excellent

Die Leiterin der Führung war überaus freundlich und hat super vom italienischen on das deutsche übersetzt.

Anonymous

March 2023

From Italy

Excellent

Anonymous

March 2023

From Italy

Great

Anonymous

March 2023

From Italy

Great

Anonymous

March 2023

From France

Excellent

Visite en immersion des cellules avec un guide qui parlait très bien français.

Anonymous

February 2023

From Italy

Excellent

Abbiamo voluto provare questa visita, pensando che potesse interessare il nostro piccolo di 10 anni, e infatti è uscito entusiasta, molto impressionato dagli strumenti di tortura e dalle condizioni dei prigionieri raccontate dalla guida in maniera molto semplice da seguire.

Anonymous

February 2023

From Italy

Excellent

Anonymous

February 2023

From Italy

Excellent

guida mervigliosa, attenta e chiara

Anonymous

February 2023

From Spain

Great

Anonymous

February 2023

From Spain

Excellent

Excelente clase de historia y mucha simpatia de parte de nuestro de guia. Nos encantó!!

Anonymous

January 2023

From Italy

Great

Anonymous

January 2023

From Italy

Great

Marco, guida fantastica! Esperienza positiva!

Anonymous

January 2023

From Italy

Excellent

la nostra guida, un ragazzo giovane, di cui non ricordo il nome, ma è uno studente di criminologia è stato molto bravo preciso e disponibile

Anonymous

November 2022

From Italy

Great

Anonymous

October 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Il percorso è stato curioso e interessante la guida eccezionale

Stuart W

October 2022

From United Kingdom

Traveled as As a couple - 22 years old

Average

Not quite what we expected. Rather than a tour of the prisons, this is a separate exhibition. For the prisons, you need to go on the Doge's Palace (which was excellent and we had already booked). Meeting point details need to be improved as not clear. Entrance is upstairs, but this is also an exhibition space so it's not clear where you meet your guide

Anonymous

October 2022

From France

Excellent

Anonymous

October 2022

From Italy

Great

Speravamo di vedere un po’ di più dei pozzi e dei piombi. La guida molto brava

Anonymous

October 2022

From Italy

Great

Funziona tutto molto bene. Trovato il sito, acquistato il biglietto in modo facile e veloce. Arrivati sul posto, siamo entrati e ascoltato la guida. Facile, comodo, pratico. Forse il biglietto è un po' caro ( ma siamo a venezia) la visita che abbiamo fatto noi, però l' organizzazione ineccepibile.

Anonymous

September 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Gita interessante. Guida simpatica. Attenzione che il portone di entrata può essere chiuso, si rischia di girare per nulla. Nel complesso una bella esperienza

Anonymous

August 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Anonymous

August 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Anonymous

August 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Giuda molto disponibile e preparata

Anonymous

August 2022

From Italy

Great

Un plauso personale ad Eric, l'operatore con cui ho interagito. E' stato professionale, gentile e di parola. La mia recensione è positiva, soprattutto grazie a lui.

Anonymous

August 2022

From Italy

Great

Un plauso personale ad Eric, l'operatore con cui ho interagito. E' stato professionale, gentile e di parola. La mia recensione è positiva, soprattutto grazie a lui.

Anonymous

July 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Guida molto preparata. Ragazzo bravissimo.

Tally

July 2022

From United Kingdom

Traveled as With friends - 7 years old

Great

Really enjoyable and informative. However there was an exhibition going on at the same time so access to the prison was minimal and our guide informed us that normally the tour is a lot longer so a bit expensive for what it was. This being said what we did get to see was very interesting.

Anonymous

July 2022

From Italy

Average

Ho messo accettabile perchè avrei voluto vedere le vecchie prigioni e il ponte dei sospiri, invece il tour è un racconto di come funzionava il tribunale a Venezia e come erano trattati i prigionieri nelle prigioni nuove.

Anonymous

June 2022

From Germany

Great

Tiefer Einblick in die Gefängnisse des Dogenpalastes und der damaligen Foltermethoden, nichts für schwache Nerven.

Anonymous

June 2022

From Italy

Great

La mia recensione è positiva nonostante l'itinerario non sia stato quello che immaginavo. Questa guida fa parte di una associazione privata che non ha accesso alle vecchie prigioni, quindi al ponte dei Sospiri e alle celle di Casanova. L'itinerario è stato alle nuove prigioni.

Anonymous

June 2022

From Italy

Great

Anonymous

June 2022

From Italy

Excellent

Anonymous

June 2022

From Italy

Great

La visita è stata molto apprezzata sia da me che da mio figlio (12 anni). La Guida è stata molto competente nel descrivere come erano le prigioni a quel tempo

Anonymous

May 2022

From Germany

Average

Die Dame, welche uns führte war unterkühl. Sie berichtete mit Karacho Interessantes über die Geschichte Venedigs. Leider hat sie uns Ihren Namen nicht genannt. Durch geheime Routen/Wege sind wir nicht gelaufen. Folterwerkzeuge und zwei Gefängniszellen haben wir gesehen.

Anonymous

May 2022

From Italy

Great

La guida è stata meravigliosa . Peccato per il poco tempo; dovendo parlare in doppia lingua ( italiano e inglese) , è dovuta essere super veloce. Avrei voluto rivolgere qualche domanda ma non c’è stato il tempo.

Anonymous

January 2022

From Netherlands

Average

Hi!Ik ben überhaupt niet gegaan en wilde het van tevoren cancellen maar dat is niet gelukt. Ik zou alsnog geld terug willen want op jullie website kon ik nergens een refund of annuleringsknop vinden. Dit is de eerste manier waarop ik contact heb met jullie. Ik hoor graag of het is gelukt

Anonymous

November 2021

From Italy

Great

Anonymous

October 2021

From Netherlands

Excellent

Wij hadden last-minute deze tour geboekt. Bleek dat we de enige waren en we hadden dus een prive-tour. Veel leuke verhalen gehoord en na de tour van een uur hadden we nog tijd om de rest van het gebouw op ons eigen gemakje te bekijken. Een aanrader!