Piazza San Marco

The main public plaza in Venice, Italy is called Piazza San Marco, sometimes known as St Mark's Square or simply la Piazza in local dialects ("the Square"). Campi is the term for any additional urban areas in the city ("fields"). The Piazza's expansion toward the San Marco basin at its southeast corner is known as the Piazzetta, or "small Piazza/Square." Together, the two areas make up Venice's social, religious, and political core and are sometimes seen as one. Both of them are relevant to this topic. Napoleon is sometimes credited as saying (without any evidence) that the Piazza San Marco is "the drawing room of Europe".

St. Mark's Basilica dominates the square's eastern side. It is depicted here as a perambulation that starts at the west front of the church and moves to the right while facing the length of the plaza. The church is described in the article St. Mark's Basilica, but there are elements of it that are mentioned here that are so much a part of the piazza, such as the entirety of its western facade with its grand arches and marble decoration, the Romanesque carvings around the central doorway, and the four horses that guard the entire piazza and are such potent symbols of the pride and power of Venice.

The two marble lions (given by Doge Alvise Mocenigo in 1722) inspired the name of the open area on the north side of the church, which was once known as the Piazzetta dei Leoncini but is now known as the Piazzetta San Giovanni XXIII. The Palazzo Patriarcale, the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, is the neo-classical structure next to the Basilica on the east side. Beyond that is St. Mark's Clocktower (Torre dell'Orologio), which was finished in 1499 and is located above a tall archway where the Merceria, the city's major avenue, flows past commercial and financial districts to the Rialto.

Location: Venice, Italy