Doges Palace Secret Itinerary Tour

Hi Debbie, we went last July and yes, they do still take you over the Bridge of Sighs, except that there is not much of a view of anything except for all the Advertising they put up to cover up the scaffolding. It is more like a tunnel vision effect. Also, please note that the Secret Itinerary tour takes you up to the prison rooms under the roof and it is extremely hot. One of my daughters was sick from the heat and they would not let us leave the tour, you must stay with the group. Be sure to bring a fan and if you can water. I don't remember whether they let you carry water or not, but anything you can think of to keep cool. Have a great trip!

we were there and took the secret itineraries tour just this march. we didn't love it. our particular guide was apparently auditioning for the stage and only wanted to talk about casanova, who was imprisoned there. we assume the guide thought we would be fascinated by endless talk of casanova. we really were not in love with this tour. in fact, it was one of the few things in our entire two-week trip that was less than we had envisioned. (the title of the tour is about the best part of it!) but yes, you do go through the bridge to the cells.

We did this tour in May last year, the weather was nice so we didn't have the heat issues, in July I would imagine that it gets pretty hot up there. Our guide was good, sounds like that could be a luck of the draw. I think all guides will talk about Casanova, how much sounds as if it varies. We did cross the Bridge of Sighs, but you really could only see out on one side towards the water when we were there. If that is your only reason for this tour, then it might not be worth it as the scaffolding looks like its still up and you may not see much if anything from there.

I took the SI tour in February and it was bitter-cold. We all agreed (esp. the guide) that it should be avoided in hot weather (not only are you right under the roof, but much of it is metal). Yes, you can take bottled drinks with you. While our guide talked about Casanova, she mainly spoke about the workings of the government in the palace, the construction of the palace and the history of Venice. I think our whole group were interested to fascinated.

The Bridge of Sighs is not part of the SI tour, it is open to all visitors of the Palace.

I haven't taken the SI Tour but a couple of years ago we were normal visitors to the Palace. We were able to go over the Bridge of Sighs and I looked out the window and couldn't see a great deal. This was before any scaffolding.

Nice enough but other than a few pieces of wonderful art (the great maps among others, and the neat staircases which I took dozens of photos of) there is lots of Venice I prefer to the Palace of the Doges.

The scaffolding obscures the view of the bridge from the street/lagoon, but the view from inside is probably the same (limited) view as always, just not as many places on the bridge to see it from, so if it's crowded, you may have to patiently wait your turn - it's a popular photo op stop.