Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco with the Basilica (1730) by Canaletto
Plan of the Piazza & Piazzetta in 1831.

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.

Contents

Description of the Piazza

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.

Three high flagpoles with bronze sculptured bases stand in front of the Basilica. The Venetian flag of St Mark used to fly from them in the time of the republic of Venice and now shares them with the Italian tricolour.

The Piazza is usually thronged with tourists and photographers and extremely popular with pigeons.

The Piazza has also served as inspiration for other public areas. Minoru Yamasaki used the site as a basis for the 5-acre (20,000 m2) Austin J. Tobin Plaza that was located at the World Trade Center in New York City until September 11 2001.

Description of the Piazzetta

The Piazzetta San Marco, view from Saint Mark's Basilica

The Piazzetta di San Marco is (strictly speaking) not part of the Piazza but an adjoining open space connecting the south side of the Piazza to the waterway of the lagoon. The Piazzetta lies between the Doge's Palace on the east and Jacopo Sansovino's Libreria which holds the Biblioteca Marciana on the west. It is open to the lagoon at the mouth of the Grand Canal where two tall columns bearing symbols of Venice's two patrons, St Mark and St Theodore, stand facing the water's edge. 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.[1] 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.

Across the water (the Bacino di San Marco) at the end of the Piazzetta can be seen the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and the brilliant white facade of Palladio's church there.

History

The Piazza originated in the 9th century as a small area in front of the original Saint 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 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.

During the French occupation from 1797, Napoleon converted the Procuratie Nuove into a royal palace intended for his son-in-law, Eugene Beauharnais, who was his viceroy in Venice. He constructed a new wing, the Ala Napoleonica, to house a ballroom, demolishing those parts of the Procuratie which previously extended round the corners and also the Church of San Geminiano, built by Jacopo Sansovino, which stood in the centre of that side. The Napoleonic Wing was designed by Giuseppe Soli in 1810.

Pavement

The Piazza was paved in the late 12th century with bricks laid in a herringbone pattern. Bands of light-colored stone ran parallel to the long axis of the main piazza. These lines were probably used in setting up market stalls and in organizing frequent ceremonial processions. This original pavement design can be seen in paintings of the late Middle Ages and through the Renaissance, such as Gentile Bellini's Procession in Piazza San Marco of 1496.

In 1723 the bricks were replaced with a more complex geometrical pavement design laid out by Venetian architect Andrea Tirali. Little is known about Tirali's reasoning for the particulars of the design. Some have speculated that the pattern was used to regulate market stalls, or to recall their former presence in the square. Others believe the pattern was drawn from oriental rugs, a popular luxury item in this trading center.

A field of dark-colored igneous trachyte with geometrical designs executed in white Istrian stone, similar to travertine composed the design. Squares of diagonally-laid blocks alternated with rectangular and oval designs along broad parallel bands. The squares were pitched to the center, like a bowl, where a drain conducted surface water into a below-grade drainage system. The pattern connected the central portal of the Basilica with the center of the western opening into the piazza. This line more closely parallels the façade of the Procuratie Vecchie, leaving a nearly triangular space adjacent to the Procuratie Nuove with its wider end closed off by the Campanile. The pattern continued past the campanile, stopping at a line connecting the three large flagpoles and leaving the space immediately in front of the Basilica undecorated. A smaller version of the same pattern in the Piazzetta paralleled Sansovino's Library, leaving a narrow trapezoid adjacent to the Doge's palace with the wide end closed off by the southwest corner of the Basilica. This smaller pattern had the internal squares inclined to form non-orthogonal quadrilaterals.

The overall alignment of the pavement pattern serves to visually lengthen the long axis and reinforce the position of the Basilica at its head. This arrangement mirrors the interior relationship of nave to altar within the cathedral.

As part of the design, the level of the piazza was raised by approximately one meter to mitigate flooding and allow more room for the internal drains to carry water to the Grand Canal.

In 1890, the pavement was renewed "due to wear and tear". The new work closely follows Tirali's design, but eliminated the oval shapes and cut off the west edge of the pattern to accommodate the Napoleonic wing at that end of the Piazza.

Flooding

The Piazza San Marco 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 Piazza 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 surging up into the Square.

Gallery

Piazza San Marco

The Piazza from St Mark's Campanile

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Alta Macadam: Venice (6th edition 1998) p.85

External links