Venice prisons opera: booking

The concert in outline

The concert is about an hour of opera in the Prisons Palace, the building that stands across a narrow canal from the Doge's Palace. Singers perform arias and duets, and a pianist accompanies them and plays solo pieces between the vocal numbers. The programme runs from Mozart to the 20th century, and the works named for the concert include Rossini, Puccini, Mozart, Offenbach and Lehár. Travellers describe a small room, humour between the songs and singers who involve the audience. It is a shared concert rather than a private one, and the start time varies by date, so check the time in your confirmation. Guests describe the evening as lively and easy to follow.

Which prison this is

Casanova's name sits in the ticket title, so it helps to know the geography. Casanova was held in the Piombi, the attic cells beneath the palace's lead roofing, and he escaped from them on 1 November 1756. The concert is in the New Prisons, a separate building over the water that the Bridge of Sighs links to the palace. The New Prisons were built to relieve the older cells, so the concert room belongs to the same prison story without being the room Casanova fled. Knowing that keeps expectations right: you are hearing opera in a prison building, not standing in a famous cell. The guide to his prison tells the escape in full.

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Inside the ticket

The ticket is for the concert. Its meeting point is the Prisons Palace, and the booking page tells guests not to go to the Doge's Palace entrance. This site is independent and sells no museum admission, so read the lines under inclusions for your option before assuming anything beyond the concert. The palace museum runs a separate visitor route over the Bridge of Sighs and through the New Prisons, with tickets and rules of its own. If you want the interiors by day, plan that as a separate visit. The concert ticket is shared, not private, and pets are not allowed. Treat anything the museum offers as a separate decision from this concert.

What you will hear

Arias and duets make up the vocal part, with piano pieces between them. These works are the ones named for the concert, but the pieces on your date are the performers' choice, so read them as a map of the style rather than a set list. Expect comic numbers beside romantic ones, at least one duet and a pianist who gets a turn alone. Because the repertoire is built from famous operas, you are likely to recognise a tune or two even if you have never been to an opera. The guide to the operas behind the arias explains each work and the number audiences know best.

• Rossini's The Barber of Seville
• Mozart's Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro
• Puccini's La bohème
• Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann
• Lehár's The Merry Widow

Choosing your date

The booking form asks for a date and a number of adults, and the calendar then lists the start times that are open. There are no seat categories to weigh, so the only decision is the day. Dates can sell out, so only the calendar shows what is free. Cancelling is free until the 24-hour mark and reserving costs nothing at the time, so a seat can wait while your Venice itinerary firms up. Book as soon as your days are fixed, and cancel before the 24-hour mark if they shift. No date can promise a particular aria.

The room and what guests say

Guests describe an intimate hall where the singers are close enough to speak to individual faces, which is why the humour works. They praise the singers and the pianist, and visitors from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brazil and France have written in. The complaints are about comfort: some say the small room gets warm and ask for better ventilation, so wear layers that come off. Comfortable shoes are suggested, because the way to the meeting point is on foot. Nobody treats it as a grand production, which is how it is sold: book it for the music and the setting, not for spectacle.

How it compares with other Venice concerts

This is the opera option: voices, piano and a building tied to the Doge's Palace. The other concerts on this page are instrumental baroque programmes. One is a concert by the Interpreti Veneziani ensemble in a 15th-century palace, with Vivaldi, Bach and Handel named among the composers. The other is Vivaldi's Four Seasons played by an orchestra in period costume. If you want singing, humour and a story attached to the building, choose the Prisons Palace. If you want strings and one famous work, choose one of the others. The guide to choosing between opera, baroque and La Fenice sets the three side by side.

Booking terms

Every button on this site opens GetYourGuide's own page, where the booking happens. Cancelling at least a day ahead returns the whole fare, and a date can be reserved with payment due later, so nothing leaves your account when you hold a seat. The fare shown includes taxes and fees. This site earns a modest commission on bookings made through its links, without any extra cost to you, and it neither takes payment nor issues tickets. Queries about the programme, the start time or a refund go to the booking page and your confirmation. This site cannot see your booking, and your confirmation holds every detail for your date.

On the day

The ticket asks for arrival at the meeting point 10 minutes before the start. From the Doge's Palace entrance, cross the bridge to the right, enter the Prisons Palace by its main entrance and go to the Information Point on the right, where staff check your voucher and give instructions. Have the confirmation ready on your phone, with the start time visible. Do not join the queue at the Doge's Palace, because the concert does not meet there. The guide to finding the concert door walks the route step by step and describes what the front of the building looks like.

Who this isn't for

The ticket lists wheelchair users as unsuited, and walking difficulties may make the visit hard going. Nor is it a staged production: expect a piano and voices, not sets and a full orchestra, so it will disappoint anyone hoping for the whole spectacle. It is not a visit to Casanova's cell, which was in a different building. And it is not the right choice for anyone who needs a cool room, since guests mention the warmth. If one of these applies, a baroque concert or a night at La Fenice may serve better, and the guide to choosing between them lays out the trade-offs. Anyone planning a private event should look elsewhere, because the ticket is described as shared, not private.

Why it suits a first visit

Venice gave opera its first public theatre, the Teatro San Cassiano, in 1637, so hearing arias here carries a local logic. A concert of about an hour fits between a day of walking and dinner, and you need do nothing more than arrive. Because the building is the one at the end of the Bridge of Sighs, the hour doubles as a short lesson in Venetian history, which is useful if your visit is brief. The guide to opera in Venice since 1637 follows the story from the first public theatre to La Fenice. The calendar shows start times for each date, so the hour can be placed around other plans.

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