View source for Piazza San Marco

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[[Image:Piazza San Marco with the Basilica, by Canaletto, 1730. Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''Piazza San Marco with the Basilica'', by [[Canaletto]], 1730.]]
[[Image:MorettiPiazzaSMarco01Pianta.png|thumb|250px|Plan of the Piazza in 1831. Since then, nothing important has changed.]]


'''St Mark's Square''', often known in English by its [[Italian language|Italian]] name '''Piazza San Marco''', is the [[town square]] of [[Venice]], [[Italy]].

The Piazza is the only urban space big enough to be called a ''[[piazza]]'' in Venice: the rest are ''campi.'' Whether it was actually [[Napoleon]], or the French [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poet [[Alfred de Musset]] who called it the "drawing-room of Europe", it is the only great urban space in a European city where the sound is of human voices talking.

At right angles to the Piazza is the Piazzetta, with the [[Doge's Palace]]. There are three [[ships' mast]]s at the water front, and have been since at least [[1480]].  The [[banner of St Mark]] is flown from them on [[feast day]]s.

St Mark's Square is extremely popular with [[tourist]]s, [[photographer]]s and [[rock dove|pigeon]]s. 

==History==

The Square originated in the [[ninth century]] as a small area in front of the original [[St Mark's Basilica]]. It was enlarged to its present size and shape in [[1177]], when the Rio Batario, which had bounded it to the west, and a [[maritime dock|dock]], which had isolated the [[Doge's Palace]] from the square, were filled in.  The rearrangement was for the meeting of [[Pope Alexander III]] and the Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]].

The Square has always been seen as the centre of Venice.  It was the location of all the important offices of the Venetian state, and has been the seat of the [[bishopric]] since the [[nineteenth century]].  It was also the focus for many of Venice's festivals.

==Buildings==
[[Image:venice_piazza_san_marco.jpg|thumb|300px|right|St Mark's Square]]
The Piazza is dominated by the Basilica, the Doge's Palace and (''illustration, left below''), and by the Basilica's [[St Mark's Campanile|campanile]], which stands apart from it.

The buildings around the Square, anti-clockwise from the [[Grand Canal of Venice|Grand Canal]], are the [[Doge's Palace]], [[St Mark's Basilica]], [[St Mark's Clocktower]], the [[Procuratie Vecchie]], the Napoleonic Wing of the Procuraties, the [[Procuratie Nuove]], [[St Mark's Campanile]] and Logetta and the [[Biblioteca Marciana]].  Most of the ground floor of the Procuraties is occupied by [[cafe]]s, including the [[Caffè Florian]] and [[Gran Caffè Quadri]].  The [[Correr Museum]] and the [[Museum of Archaeology]] are located in some of the buildings of the Square.  The [[Venetian Mint]] lies beyond the Biblioteca Marciana on the ''riva'' or bank of the Grand Canal.  The last of these buildings were completed under Napoleonic occupation, although the campanile has since been rebuilt.

==Other features==
[[Image:View of St Marks Place Venice Sixteenth Century after Cesare Vecellio.png|thumb|right|View of the Piazzetta in the 16th century, after Cesare Vecellio.]]

The Square was paved with [[herringbone bricks]] from the late [[thirteenth century]] until [[1723]], when it was replaced by the present [[trachyte]] slabs, with bands of stone in [[geometrical pattern]]s, designed to make the Square appear longer.

The Square is the lowest point in Venice, and as a result during the ''acqua alta'' the "high water" from storm surges from the Adriatic, or even heavy rain, it is the first to flood.  Water pouring into the drains in the Square runs directly into the Grand Canal.  This is ideal during heavy rain, but during the acqua alta it has the reverse effect, with water from the canal pouring up into the Square.

==The Piazzetta==
[[Image:CanalettoSanMarco.jpg|thumb|left|275px|The Basilica's facade and the Doge's Palace facing the Piazzetta by [[Canaletto]], 1740s.]]
The part of the Square between the Doge's Palace and the Biblioteca Marciana, [[Jacopo Sansovino]]'s Library, is the '''Piazzetta dei Leoncini'''.  It is open to the [[Venetian Lagoon|lagoon]] at the mouth of the Grand Canal, and is known for the columns of Venice's two patrons, Marco and Todaro, that stand by the water's edge: on them are the lion of [[Saint Mark]] and the statue of [[Theodore of Amasea|Saint Teodoro of Amasea]], "Santodaro" to the Venetians, who is standing on the sacred crocodile of Egypt. Theodore of Amasea is less well known than the Evangelist: he burned down a temple of [[Cybele]] as an act of Christian piety and was martyred for it. These columns constituted the official gateway to Venice; when there were no official guests in the city, gambling was permitted in the space between the columns.  It was also the site of [[Execution (legal)|execution]]s in the city.

Across the expanse of water (the ''Bacino di San Marco'') is the Punta della Salute to the left of [[Baldassarre Longhena]]'s "Santa Maria della Salute." The ''Dogana di mare'' ("customs House") has given its name to every Italian customs shed, much as Venice also had the original [[Arsenal]].

==External links==

*[http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/venice_italy/st_mark_s_square/piazza_san_marco/st_mark_s_square.htm Venice, Italy in Virtual Reality] St Mark's Square.
*[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=venice,+italy&ll=45.433914,12.337604&spn=0.003004,0.010274&t=k&hl=en Satellite image from Google Maps]