The Pigeons of Venice
Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) in Venice
The living room of Venice is a year-round carnival, one of milling tourists, kids feeding an endless supply of pigeons, locals relaxing at outdoor café tables, and couples caught up in Venice's romance dancing on the cobblestones to the competing strains of the cafés' live pianists and classical trios. Also, in winter, sometimes it's full of water.
This epicenter of the city is flanked on three sides by a unified 16th-century arcade and anchored by St. Mark's, Italy's most mosaicked cathedral. The square is mobbed at midday, but late at night or at dawn it's virtually deserted, an emptiness that brings it to life with a Venetian magic all its own.
One of the best ways to appreciate it is by riding the elevator to the top of the Campanile, the belltower standing across from the bascilia di San Marco.
The north side of the square is enlivened by the Torre dell'Orolorgio, a late 15th-century clock tower whose bells chime the hours with the help of two hammer-wielding statues called the Moors of Venice (they're actually European shepherds, but centuries of outdoor life has darkened to bronze figures to the point where the locals decided they looked more Moorish).
In the square's southwest corner sits the Museo Civico Correr. Just north of it lies the Bacino Orseolo, where many of Venice's gondolas park overnight (cool sight).
Piazza San Marco
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This article was last updated in December 2006. All information was accurate at the time.
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Copyright © 1998–2008 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
