Piazza San Marco

"The Place of St. Mark is the heart of Venice, and from this beats her life in every direction through an intricate system of streets and canals that bring it back again to the same centre". William Dean Howells, Venetian Life.

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The Piazza San Marco, which Napoleon is said to have described as 'the finest drawing room in Europe', is the beating heart of Venice. It is also the only open space in the entire city to be called a piazza; all other such spaces are known as campi. The distinction may have arisen from the fact that the area in front of San Marco was paved long before any of the other squares in the city.

The piazza has always been the focal point of the city, the place where people came together to celebrate the Venetian state, in the form of grand ceremonies and colourful pageants and processions. On a more mundane level, it was also where ordinary markets were held. 

The piazza was originally much smaller, as it was bordered on the western side by a canal, the Rio Batario. On the opposite side of the Rio Batario stood the church of  San Geminiano, which was surrounded by an orchard (known as the brolo). In 1160 the canal was filled in,  the church demolished and the orchard cut down. The piazza was then expanded to its present dimensions. Little over a century later, in 1267, the piazza was paved with bricks, laid out in a herringbone (spinapesce) pattern. In 1723, the bricks were replaced by a complex geometrical design made up of dark slabs of trachyte (quarried in the nearby Euganean Hills) and strips of white marble, the idea of the Venetian architect, Andrea Tirali. In 1890 the pavement was replaced, broadly in keeping with Tirali's original design. 

The three red flagpoles, in front of the basilica, stand on beautifully decorated bronze bases (1505), the work of Alessandro Leopardi. The decoration of the central base symbolises the power of the Venetian Republic. In addition to allegories of Justice, Peace and Abundance, there is a curious aquatic elephant (see below), which represents the virtues of Strength and Prudence. The base also sports three medallions, which contain portraits, in profile, of Leonardo Loredan (1501-21), the doge who was reigning in 1505. The other two bases depict Nereids and Tritons carrying the fruits of the sea and Neptune receiving the fruits of the earth. In addition to the standard of Saint Mark, the flags of Crete and Cyprus (both islands were once part of the Venetian Empire) would have flown from these poles, at least until the islands became part of the Ottoman Empire. 

On the north side of the piazza is the Procuratie Vecchie (Old Procuracies), which was built between 1512 and 1532 by Bartolomeo Bon and Guglielmo dei Grigi. The building once housed the nine Procurators, the highest officers of state in the Venetian Republic after the Doge. In time the procurators would move across the piazza to their new residence, which came to be known as the Procuratie Nuove. It was designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616), Palladio's most famous pupil. Work began in 1582, but ground to a halt in 1586, having reached the tenth arch (counting from the end nearest the campanile). The project was finished, circa 1640, by Scamozzi's own pupil, Baldassare Longhena. 

The two procuracies are connected, at the west end of the piazza, by the Ala Napoleonica, the Napoleonic wing, which was added, in 1810, by Giuseppe Soli. Since 1923, the Ala Napoleonica and the Procuratie Nuove have housed the Museo Correr, the city's museum of art and history. The nucleus of the collection was bequeathed to Venice by one of its wealthier citizens, Teodoro Correr (1750-1830). ​

Piazza San Marco

Flagpole, Alessandro Leopardi, 1505.

Flagpole, Alessandro Leopardi, 1505.