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Piazza San Marco

The Piazza viewed from the Campanile

There are few city squares in the world where you can easily spend an entire day exploring, or just dawdling as the rest of world goes by dressed in funny hats. But then again, few cities have so much psychologically concentrated in one place.

The waterfront is Venice’s front door to the Lagoon and the sea, its traditional lifeline and heartline; around the rim stand not only the palaces of government and religion – the residence of the Doge, the mint, the state library, the prisons and place of public execution – but also St Mark’s Basilica, which is not so much a church as a compact made between Venice and God. Arrive as early as you can to avoid the armies of Babylon, or linger late, to see the piazza as a masterpiece of urban design rather than a phenomenon of natural crowd control.

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Basilica di San Marco

All that glitters probably is gold

Basilica di San Marco: Campanile

The top of the town

Basilica di San Marco: Museum

and the famous horses

Basilica di San Marco: Treasury

Byzantine beauty

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana

Sansovino's masterpiece

Bridge of Sighs

Ponte dei Sospiri

Caffé Florian

Venetian coffee culture

Feast of the Twelve Marys

Love fest

Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa

Promoting young artists in Venice

Museo Archeologico Nazionale

Ancient treasures

Museo Correr

Venice's attic

Palazzo delle Prigioni

Once a jail, now a concert hall

Palazzo Ducale (Doges' Palace)

Seat of Empire

Palazzo Ducale: Hidden Doge's Treasure Tour

New Behind the Scenes Tour

Palazzo Ducale: Secret Itinerary

Behind gilded scenes

Piazzetta dei Leoncini

Between the Basilica and Clock Tower

Piazzetta San Marco

And its two famous columns

Piazzetta San Marco waterfront

Along The Molo

Procuratie and the Ala Napoleonica

The offices enclosing Piazza San Marco

San Basso

Today a concert hall

Torre dell’Orologio

Telling time with panache

Zecca

Source of all those sequins

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by Jtesla16 , Creative Commons License