Prison Palace Tour: Venetian Justice Unveiled

Step into the dark and haunting world of the Prison Palace in Venice. Explore the history of the Venetian Republic through its cells, torture tools, and the infamous Casanova’s jailbreak. Book your small group tour now!

Duration: 45 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Circolo Artistico - Palazzo Delle Prigioni - Listen to the myths and legends that still live inside these cold cells and halls.
    Along the route, you’ll enjoy the explanation of the powerful “Council of The Ten”, composed of the highest Venice Politicians that oversaw justice in all Venetian domains.
    Since the birth of the Republic, Venice has been…
What's Included
  • Entrance skip the line Ticket to the Prison’s Palace and its secret itinerary
  • Live commentary in English and Italian
  • Audio commentary in French and Spanish
Additional Information

The Lords of the Night served as both the police and judges in the Venetian Republic. Visitors will be guided by the prison staff to an authentic Prison Palace, featuring cramped cells, a courtroom, and chilling torture chambers equipped with genuine instruments of torture and justice. Notably, Casanova was apprehended by the Lords of the Night within…

Location
Circolo Artistico - Palazzo Delle Prigioni
Riva degli Schiavoni
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.1
(170 Ratings)
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Betty_s
Jun 27, 2025
Interesting - My family and I found this tour entertaining. Some of the devices and practices of older days might be useful to reduce crime today. Others were a bit to inhumane for me.
Review provided by Viator
Ritagloria_g
Jun 5, 2025
Really interesting - A very interesting visit. The very good and prepared guide made us go back in time and fell into the dramatic reality of how penalties for offenders were managed. I highly recommend.
Review provided by Viator
Peachme11
Mar 19, 2025
Brilliant tour. - Great little alternative to the Doge's Palace, just on the opposite side of the bridge. The Prison Palace is where the 'new' prison was built as the Doge's side was not enough. You don't get to go on the Bridge of Sighs with the tour we had. We opted for the guided tour, called "Lords of the Night Prisons Palace: Cells and torture tools." It was such a good tour, really nicely run, informative, and ended up just being the two of us, so was like a private tour! We were told the history of the prison, given a tour of the cells and some great info. The tour was around 45 minutes long, and then we could explore at our leisure, which gave us time to read the information and look at anything not covered in the tour. It is definitely not for those who don't want to know about some of the more gruesome elements of life in medieval times, i.e. imprisonment cells, tools of interrogation, torture, and sometimes execution. We bought tickets 24 hours in advance, but there was no queue anyway, it was really empty, definitely somewhere that is missed because everyone goes to the other side of the bridge, where there was a huge queue. Lots of stairs and some uneven flooring in places. This review is also on Google with Viator referenced.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jean_b
Jul 2, 2025
Two thumbs up! - This is a great little tour. Loved our tour guide, she was so knowledgeable, good humor. There were some crazy torture methods back in the day. How many different ways can you use spikes??? If you love history, this is a great little off the beaten path way to spend an hour. Two thumbs up!
Review provided by Viator
Kamanta_s
Jun 15, 2025
nice tour - This tour was very interesting. It was just hard to find in the area. The lady was very nice and informative, but hard to understand for me. The only downside to this tour is the steps and the hot weather.
Review provided by Viator
Kchase4970
May 31, 2025
Interesting - I had a hard time finding our guide. There was no company name on a sign being held up. We found our guide by asking other companies if they knew the one we were looking for. Our guide happen to hear us asking for the tour company and then confirmed we were with her. There was no type of company logo on her at all, just regular street clothes. She also had a strong accent and spoke really fast so it was hard to follow her most of the time. However what we did see was pretty cool. The types of torture devices were disturbing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Clintst2409fu
Mar 19, 2025
A learning experience! - Go early and you could be the only people in the group and it's your own private tour. Very interesting things learned along the tour! Some of the things considered crimes make your jaw drop!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ashley_a
Jun 2, 2025
Very short tour. Only saw... - Very short tour. Only saw a handful of rooms with various torture apparatus which the majority came from other counties.
Review provided by Viator
Passenger28242279589
Mar 16, 2025
Waste of time - Guide informative but hard to hear as very quietly spoken and hard to understand with her strong accent. Didn't learn or see as much as expected.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jill_t
Jun 28, 2025
Not As Described - It says it's a guided tour but really you just walk around yourself, took about 15 minutes. It's cool to see but there's really only 2 areas, sounded like a much more extensive tour. You just see the torture devices, not where they kept prisoners or anything else it described. No sign at the entrance, just go up the stairs to find the one person working waiting for you. Unless you're really curious about medieval torture devices not really worth the money.
Review provided by Viator
From $18
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).