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Piazza San Marco (often known in English as Saint Mark's Square), is the principal square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city (except the Piazzetta) are called campi.
The Piazzetta (the 'little Piazza') is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner (see plan). The two spaces together form the social religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly both considered together. This article relates to both of them.
A remark often attributed to Napoleon (but perhaps more correctly to Alfred de Musset calls the Piazza San Marco "The drawing room of Europe". It is one of the few great urban spaces in Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic.
The Piazza is dominated by the Basilica of San Marco at its eastern end with Sansovino's Logetta and the Campanile standing free, facing it at that end. The following buildings surround the Piazza on the other three sides, as seen from the front of the Basilica. On the right (the north side of the Piazza) are the Clocktower with an archway beneath it, under which the street known as the Merceria leads to the financial and commercial district of the Rialto, and, beyond that, the range of buildings known as the Procuratie Vecchie. On the left (the south side of the Piazza), past the Piazzetta, is the north end of the Libreria, designed by Sansovino, which faces the Piazzetta, and beyond that the range of buildings known as the Procuratie Nuove.
At the western end, opposite St Mark's, is the building erected under Napoleon and known as the Ala Napoleonica (the Napoleonic Wing) of the Procuratie, now the entrance to the Correr Museum. The museum extends down the south side on the upper floors of the Procuratie Nuove. The ground floor of these buildings is occupied by shops and cafés, including the long established Caffè Florian on the south side and Gran Caffè Quadri on the north side, whose orchestras often take it in turns to play.
Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, due to the city being one of the world's greatest and most beautiful cities of art.
The city has an average of 50,000 tourists a day (2007 estimate). In 2006, it was the world's 28th most internationally visited city, with 2.927 million international arrivals that year.
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On the right (looking from the lagoon) is a winged creature representing the lion of Saint Mark, although it is thought to be in fact a Hellenistic work, possibly from a tomb in Cilicia or Tarsus. On the left is a statue representing St Theodore with a dragon (made up of parts of several ancient statues); St Theodore was the patron saint of Venice before St Mark. These columns served as a ceremonial entrance to the city. Gambling was permitted in the space between the columns; this right is said to have been granted as a reward to the man who first raised the columns. It was also the site of public executions.
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The Piazza is usually thronged with tourists and photographers and extremely popular with pigeons. c
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