But the plot miscarried through one of the conspirators warning a friend to keep indoors; the ringleaders were caught and hanged or exiled; and the Doge, after confessing his guilt, was beheaded in the courtyard of this palace.

His coffin may be seen in the Museo Civico, and of his unhappy story Byron made a drama.
One of Faliero's party was Calendario, an architect, employed on the part of the Doges' Palace in which we are now standing.

He was hanged or strangled between the two red columns in the upper arches of the Piazzetta facade.
The first Doge to be represented here is Antenorio Obelerio (804-810), but he had had predecessors, the first in fact dating from 697.

Of Obelerio little good is known.

He married a foreigner whom some believe to have been an illegitimate daughter of Charlemagne, and her influence was bad.