Description
St Mark's Square is the monumental heart of Venice: a great trapezoidal space, about 170 meters long, closed off by the basilica, the bell tower and the palaces of the Procuratie. You reach it from the sea through the Piazzetta, between two granite columns. It is called the “drawing room of Europe”.
It is the only “piazza” in Venice: all the city's other open spaces are called “campo”.
At first there were vegetable gardens here, a canal, the Rio Batario, and in front of the doge's palace a basin for unloading goods. Everything changed with the arrival of St Mark's body, in the 9th century: next to the palace the first basilica arose.
From then on the square grew by landfill. In 1156 the Rio Batario was covered over, then the basin in front of the palace, where the Piazzetta arose.
In 1172, under Doge Ziani, two enormous granite columns that had come from Constantinople were raised on the quay, with the winged lion of St Mark and the statue of St Theodore, the city's first patron.
Around it stand the Procuratie: the Old ones, from the early 1500s, and the New ones, by Sansovino and later Scamozzi and Longhena, with the arcades where you find Caffè Florian and Caffè Quadri, face to face. Closing off the square is the Napoleonic Wing, with the Correr Museum.
The great director was Jacopo Sansovino, who in the 1500s made classical a square that was still Gothic, with the Library and the Loggetta at the foot of the bell tower. The bell tower, rebuilt after the collapse of 1902, is the square's landmark.
On the side toward the Piazzetta dei Leoncini stands the Clock Tower, which marks the start of the Merceria, the shopping street. The little piazza takes its name from the two crouching lions.
Processions, tournaments, fairs and markets were held here. Between the two columns death sentences were carried out, while laws were announced from the Pietra del Bando. In the 1700s came Carnival and the cafés.
Don't miss
• The columns of St Mark and St Theodore.
• The Clock Tower.
• Caffè Florian and Caffè Quadri.
• The Piazzetta dei Leoncini.
Did you know?
• The paving is Euganean trachyte, the “masegni”, laid in 1723 to a design by Andrea Tirali.
• When the bell tower collapsed in 1902, the rubble stopped against the Pietra del Bando, a step from the basilica.
• The Tetrarchs, four Roman emperors in an embrace, loot from Constantinople, are at the corner of the Treasury, near the Porta della Carta.
It is the only “piazza” in Venice: all the city's other open spaces are called “campo”.
At first there were vegetable gardens here, a canal, the Rio Batario, and in front of the doge's palace a basin for unloading goods. Everything changed with the arrival of St Mark's body, in the 9th century: next to the palace the first basilica arose.
From then on the square grew by landfill. In 1156 the Rio Batario was covered over, then the basin in front of the palace, where the Piazzetta arose.
In 1172, under Doge Ziani, two enormous granite columns that had come from Constantinople were raised on the quay, with the winged lion of St Mark and the statue of St Theodore, the city's first patron.
Around it stand the Procuratie: the Old ones, from the early 1500s, and the New ones, by Sansovino and later Scamozzi and Longhena, with the arcades where you find Caffè Florian and Caffè Quadri, face to face. Closing off the square is the Napoleonic Wing, with the Correr Museum.
The great director was Jacopo Sansovino, who in the 1500s made classical a square that was still Gothic, with the Library and the Loggetta at the foot of the bell tower. The bell tower, rebuilt after the collapse of 1902, is the square's landmark.
On the side toward the Piazzetta dei Leoncini stands the Clock Tower, which marks the start of the Merceria, the shopping street. The little piazza takes its name from the two crouching lions.
Processions, tournaments, fairs and markets were held here. Between the two columns death sentences were carried out, while laws were announced from the Pietra del Bando. In the 1700s came Carnival and the cafés.
Don't miss
• The columns of St Mark and St Theodore.
• The Clock Tower.
• Caffè Florian and Caffè Quadri.
• The Piazzetta dei Leoncini.
Did you know?
• The paving is Euganean trachyte, the “masegni”, laid in 1723 to a design by Andrea Tirali.
• When the bell tower collapsed in 1902, the rubble stopped against the Pietra del Bando, a step from the basilica.
• The Tetrarchs, four Roman emperors in an embrace, loot from Constantinople, are at the corner of the Treasury, near the Porta della Carta.