The Piombi attic prison is generally closed to the public, but many private "Secret Itineraries" tours of the Doge's Palace include these former cells along with the palace’s torture chamber, ducal administrative offices, and the Bridge of Sighs. These tours are open to a limited number of visitors and must be booked in advance; you can combine your visit of the hidden rooms in the Doge’s Palace with a skip-the-line tour of St. Mark's Basilica or a small-group walking tour of the highlights in and around St. Mark's Square.
The Piombi gets its name from the Italian word for lead, because the attic prison was topped by a lead-covered roof that made the cells both secure and notoriously uncomfortable, with extreme temperatures in summer and winter. Perhaps the most famous resident of the Piombi was legendary womanizer Giacomo Casanova, who successfully escaped from the supposedly inescapable prison in 1755.