MARCIANA LIBRARY, Interior

Passing through the central portal of the Library, you can now take the rich double staircase. It is a jewel of the architecture and decoration of the late Venetian Renaissance. When you reach the landing, look up to see a small and charming dome lined with precious white and gold stuccoes alternating with Classical frescoes.

When you reach the top, you're now in the atrium. The octagon at the center of the ceiling has another Titian masterpiece: the image of Wisdom flying over the clouds. This luminous image represents a moment of serenity in the great master's work, who was now on the threshold of seventy.

In the splendid main hall, don't miss the wonderful ceiling that was made thanks to the collaboration of seven painters. It's like looking at a kind of collective exhibition of young Venetian talent shortly after the mid-sixteenth century. Each artist was entrusted with three "tondi", or circular paintings, with a strictly equal number for each. Titian, who was called on as a judge, decided to reward Paolo Veronese with a gold necklace, who hadn't even turned thirty yet....